Monster's Pet
by Yashi-Sama
Summary: We know that Saki is usually a shy and not an outspoken person. Ever wonder what will happen if someone catch her interest? Saki X Kyouko
1. Prologue

A Monster's Pet

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AN: hi! another story from yours truly, do kindly R&R okay!

disclaimer: I don't own any character nor do i profit from saki and her author's work

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My name is Kyouko Suehara. I'm twenty-one years old. What's my occupation you ask? I'm a professional mahjong player playing in a professional team. The team I'm on is a low profile team that has yet to make a name for it. The players in our team are not very popular, in fact I'm proud to say that I'm probably the most known among us because I made it to the championships back in my third year of high school. However, to be honest, it's not something I'm truly proud of. You see, even if I'm praised as the magic player who got my team to the second place, it was someone else who orchestrated the events that got me there.

I remember it fully well. I first met her in the quarter-finals. Our school Himematsu High was against the prestigious Eisui High, Miyamori High and… Kiyosumi High. It was in the captain match did my fate crossed with hers. Yes, you know who I mean, it's Saki Miyanaga of Kiyosumi, the three time MVP in the team tournament and the three time individual national high school champion. Back then, every school overtook me and my school was thrown so back that I thought I'd shame all of us. Then, I was given the opportunity and in the final hand, I scored an expensive hand and managed to steal second place. Or so I thought…

When I got back to our room it was then I realized that I was too vain to claim it as my victory that I got into second place. We noticed that it was her that planned everything that led to my hand that it was to her will that our school was going to be in the finals. I didn't believe it at first but then it happened again in the finals. With everything I had I scored a sanbaiman hand that closed the gap and Kiyosumi was in firing range. I was so happy that I did not notice… it was once again the last hand.

"It must have been a coincidence" I said to myself. I mean, there's no way she would have been able do what she did against such monsters right? Once again I overestimated myself. I was walking back to our dug out when we met in the hall. Her hair covered her eyes but she had a charming yet malicious smile on her face. As we crossed she placed her right hand on my right shoulder.

"Tomorrow you will stand by my side as second place in the awards ceremony." She said directly to my ear.

I was shocked. I didn't know if she was bluffing or if she was telling the truth. What she said meant that she has been leading me on until now. With everything I had I shook off her hand and said "I don't need your help and I will win!"

She didn't reply to what I said and only yelped 'aww'. I was scared, for the first time in my life I found myself backpedalling like I was in front of something deathly unphantomable. She stood there smiling at me, as I kept backpedalling away. When I was far enough I turned and ran for it. I just had to get out of there. Needless to say I was not able to sleep at night. I kept it from my teammates, what she said and what she said she'll do.

When the championships came our team was once again blown away, basically by the team called Shiraitodai and its Miyanaga Teru, a girl that shares the same last name as that girl. We were so far back that I was sure that it was impossible to come back from that slump. And then it happened, Miyanaga Saki with unbelievable speed reduced Shiraitodai's points back to earth with consecutive golden hand direct hits.

Awaii Oohoshi who was back then considered to be the most dangerous first year suffered consecutive direct hits and fell to our level. Miyanaga Saki just kept dealing and she just kept winning. The tables turned so fast and Kiyosumi was ahead by miles before I knew it. Then, she did something even more unbelievable, she dropped Achiga and Shiraitodai to negative. Immediately their team was declared champion and then she came to me smiling and said "whew, I almost failed."

I was surprised by this, I wondered what she meant. "Almost failed? You were already ahead for so many hands how can you say that?" I was naïve back then, I should've known what she meant. She didn't reply but she only raised her hand and pointed at the score board. That's when I saw my own score. My school's point was exactly at 'zero' while Achiga was at 'negative one'. One more and I would not have taken second place. Then it hit me, once again it's her who placed me on this spot. At that point I almost broke down, it became obvious to me that I was her toy who she enjoyed seeing on second place.

After three years I thought I already overcame that traumatizing experience. However, every time I play I see that shadow of that girl behind me. When I win is it because of me? Or is she controlling me again somewhere ? Because of this problem I am not able to carry our team far. I had to do something about it or our team might be disbanded.

Today we will have new members. They're fresh high school graduates. They're people who decided that mahjong is their life and threw the opportunity of higher level education. I'm new to the team so I wasn't team captain but I had the task to greet the new members and guide them in the team. To be honest I did not like this task, it was never always easy for me to bond with new people. Our team was given a small mansion to work in. It wasn't too big but it was a nice and comfortable place to train in. It's definitely a lot better than my high school club room. Today I'm in the living room which we transformed into some sort of a lobby to wait for our new members.

Ding, ding

The door bell rung. For me that was my cue that our new members have arrived. I fixed my hair to look 'professional' as I rushed to the door. When I opened the door a peculiar figure greeted me. It was a girl and she was nineteen years old. Her eyes were covered with her hair and only her grim smile was visible to me. I stepped back and almost fell on my rear as that girl took her first step forward. Her hand reached for my cheek. I wanted to yell but I felt my body freeze. Her fingers rubbed gently against cheek before she placed her point finger on my lips as if she was telling me to 'keep quiet'.

"It's nice to meet you again Suehara-san." This was Miyanaga Saki's first words to me as teammates in a professional team


	2. Chapter 1

"Where am I?" I asked my self. I found myself in a dome and in front of me was a mahjong table. I was sitting on one side and there were three people. It became obvious to me that I was in a match. I looked at each of my opponents: Toki of Senriyama, Miyanaga Teru of Shiraitodai and Kei Arakawa of Sangamaki High School. Of course, these were their previous teams because all of them were accepted in high profile professional teams before I even started. They didn't even have to apply, they were just scouted.

"It's your move…" I heard Miyanaga Teru talk. She was looking at me with those cold eyes that she displayed every time she played. I gulped a huge chunk of saliva which formed around my tongue as I nodded. I tried to reach out for a tile but my hand froze half way there. I was scared. I don't know why, but I'm terrified that my hand couldn't even reach out for my tile.

"What's wrong? Did you forget how to play?" A voice from behind me broke my silence. A hand gently enveloped the top back part of my hand and guided it to the tile. Then it softly gave my lower arm a smooth caress as it made my way to my upper arm before it rested on my shoulder and to give me a gentle pat.

Whose hand was that? And whose voice is it that's urging me to pick this tile? I hesitantly picked it up and even more hesitantly looked at the symbol engraved on it.

"A red dragon… what do you know… dai-… san-… gen..." The voice became clearer to me now as whoever it was started speaking directly beside my ear. She placed two fingers on the far edge of my shoulder and for every syllable of 'Daisangen' she would let her fingers 'walk' on my shoulder.

I yelped a bit as that someone began breathing on the surface of my neck. Then I looked beside me to see a girl whose face was covered with her brown hair and only her left eye could be seen. Her eye glowed dark red which complemented her gentle yet somewhat sinister smile. This girl looked extremely familiar to me. However for some reason it took my brain a few seconds before I clearly recognized who it was.

"Y-You!" I gasped and cried as I finally remembered the name of that girl. I looked below me and found out that I had been sitting on her lap the whole time. I jumped to my feet to move away from her as fast as I can but the moment I stood up everything changed.

My surroundings turned from the dome where we held mahjong matches to a huge stage platform luxuriously decorated with a lot of sponsor icons plastered in every corner. Below and in front of the stage was a massive crowd clapping. The people in that crowd were all smiles but I could not help but wonder what they were so cheerful about.

I looked at my hand and to my surprise, around my arms was a golden cup with the symbol of the East Wind in it. This is the trophy given to the winner of the most prestigious national pro-tournament. Did I just win first place for our team? Beside me were my teammates clapping, they looked very happy. With all my confusion I almost didn't notice them.

But, before I could even get over my confusion, everything began to swirl as I entered what seems to be vertigo. I felt the floor stand up and if it wasn't thanks for someone's hand my face would have turned into mush on that solid marble.

"Wahaha are you okay?" Asked my teammate who caught me as I was falling down. She sounded worried but the look on her face says otherwise. She had that happy blank look she always had whatever the situation was.

"I'm fine… I'm just a little dizzy." I replied. I allowed her to help me up as I placed my right hand on my forehead. I looked around me and found out that I'm in a large dining hall, so large that it can fit probably at least two hundred people and it would still have enough room for a small truck. There were tables neatly placed everywhere. I supposed that if what happened awhile ago is the award ceremony then this must be the after-party. I looked down and noticed that I'm wearing a blue formal blouse with matching flare skirt.

"By the way you have some fans who want your autograph." Said her. I had fans? I mean, sure I was a little popular back in high school since I'm in the team that was in the nationals back then but I cannot believe I had loyal fans.

Two girls came to me, one had purple short hair and another one had short black hair. The purple head girl looked like she was still in middle school, she was really small. Because of that, the black haired girl looked like her guardian.

"P-Please sign this!" The small girl handed me a canvas and a marker pen which I hesitantly accepted. I've done this before, she wants my autograph I'm sure of it but I still can't tell who these girls were.

"Uhm… okay…" I started writing on that canvas putting my name in front before writing 'to (put name here)'. This would be a good time to know her name so I asked her "what should I write for your name?"

The short girl pouted with an annoyed look on her face. She looked extremely offended. I didn't know what I did wrong, but whatever it was, this girl didn't like it.

"That's so mean Saki-sempai we've been teammates since your second year of high school and now you're telling me that you already forgot about me?! I'm Maho remember?!" The girl almost burst into tears.

"I'm sorry but-…" I was about to apologize when I noticed something wrong about the situation. Did she just call me Saki-sempai? _"This girl has the wrong girl_" I thought to myself. I mean, what part of me is Saki like?

"She's right that's not very polite of you Saki… to forget your old teammates like that." My teammate who brought these two girls to me looked disappointed. But that wasn't my main concern. Did she just also call me Saki?

"This isn't funny you all, please stop joking around." I stepped back while waving my hands forward. Were these two invited to play a prank on me? And is my teammate in with the joke? If it was a joke then I wanted to tell them that it wasn't very funny.

"Eh? What's the matter Saki-sempai?" The little girl who called herself Maho looked closely at me as if to examine me from a close up. It's there when I noticed myself by the reflection of her little eyes. My hair was brown and my eyes were deep red.

I looked at everything in the room that reflected my image. The shiny glasses they prepared for the party, the crystal clear goblets, and the speck-free plates and even on the soup; I looked at all of them. Every time I checked I would see another girl staring back at me. It was the same brown haired girl I saw in the eyes of that girl named Maho; it was Saki in my reflection. No… I was Saki.

"You look pale Saki-sempai are you okay?" Maho approached me again as I started backing away. I didn't know what was going on? Without answering her question I turned my back on everybody and started running away with one hand covering my mouth.

I ran to the first thing that came into my mind, the restroom. There nobody would disturb me and I could think about what's happening. As I entered the room I once again checked my reflection on the mirror above the sink. There she was, Saki, inside that mirror. I moved my fingers to my lips and that girl moved hers as well. Before I could go insane I decided to open the faucet and rinse my face with cold water; that should wake me up from my delusions.

After the cold rinse, I looked at the mirror again. Purple hair and twirls, yep that's me. I sighed in relief. Was I really hallucinating a moment ago? If I was then I really feel bad for the people I left back there who are probably now worrying about me. As I turned away from the mirror I was quickly slapped back to reality that my horror was yet to end. In the opposite wall of room not too far away from me was the girl I feared.

"M-Miyanaga Saki…." I was trembling. I found myself paralyzed as I looked at the girl in a sailor suit. She was playfully smiling at me like she always did before.

"Suehara-san, you're all wet. That's not how you should face your guests in a party." Said that girl.

"W-What are you doing here?" I asked but she didn't answer my question.

Miyanaga Saki raised her right hand sideways and I found myself doing the same. Then she moved her left hand forward and raised it with her palm wide open facing me. To my surprise, my body willingly did the same. I tried moving differently but my body copied everything she did. It became apparent that I had been wrong, she wasn't my reflection instead I was hers! Both of us walked towards the other and met in the middle of the room. We raised our right hands to our chest and leaned our palms against each other's as if we were trying to match fingers. We looked at each other straight in the eyes almost passionately before we leaned forward and closed our eyes as our lips welcomed each other.

"Uwah!" I gasped and raised my hand forward as I sat up. I was back in my room in the mansion that was turned to a team's dorm room. The AC was on but my whole body was covered in sweat. Furthermore my lips still had that warm sensation from that nightmare.

I checked myself on the mirror a few meters beside my bed. Long and purple hair that covered most of my ears with fringe that covered my entire forehead if I don't style it: yep that's me. I was relieved not to see any brown hair and I swore that I would kill myself if I did. I've been having these weird dreams, or should I say nightmares, since the past few weeks. Our team which was named 'Nine Lanterns' wasn't very popular and the chance to establish our name is at hand. We just recently joined a tournament, and with the help of luck we made it to the quarter finals. However, since we made it through the first few battles, I've started having these weird dreams.

"Kyouko-chan are you alright? We heard some screaming." I heard the voice of a concerned teammate call for me after she knocked.

"I- I'm sorry I was just having a bad dream." I replied aloud. I stood up to greet her by the door. After all, after checking the clock, I knew that it wasn't fine for me to still be sleeping. It was already eight o'clock in the morning and we will be having our practice in a little while, I needed to be prepared.

"Wahaha, are you sure you're okay?" My teammate asked. This teammate of mine had pink hair which points outwards sideways both left and right as if she gelled it to be that way. Her name is Satomi Kanbara. Like me she was a mahjong player in her high school and like me she decided to gamble on the promise of success being a Mahjong Professional. Back in high school she was in the team called 'Tsuruga' and though she didn't make it to the nationals, her team did very well in the prefectural.

"Please don't worry, I'm fine." I replied. I didn't want to cause my team any unnecessary worries. Besides, telling them that I've been having nightmares about the High School Three Time Individual Champion who was a part of the Three Time Undisputed Champions Team called Kiyosumi they'd probably laugh at me.

"If you say so. Breakfast is ready would you want to go down or would you prefer eating here?" Kanbara asked. I was seriously tempted to choose the latter but I felt bad to have her go to through all that trouble of bringing me food so I waved my head and chose the first. She nodded back and said "I'll see you there" before closing my room's door.

After she left I reluctantly stood up to prepare. First thing's first: hygiene! I opened my dresser and prepared some clothes I'd feel comfortable in during training. White blouse and some close fitting spats. These were similar to the clothes I wore in my high school days. I'm the type of girl that enjoys wearing gym shorts more than the traditional skirt because it gives me more freedom. For my underwear my choice was a pair of cotton bra and panties, and yes they're plain white. I opened a new box of soap and my bottle of specialized shampoo and conditioner and then took them with me to the bathroom. Not only did we have our own bathrooms in our rooms but every utility expense is paid for by her aunt who's one of our sponsors. This sure is a fine place the team got. This place was formerly owned by my Kanbara's aunt who kindly donated it for our training.

Thankfully, this place had warm water going through its showers. Back at home I would need to open the heater first and wait for a few minutes before going in but here I just turn the knob and go under the running water. It was perfect, it wasn't too hot and it feels great on the skin. While I rubbed and filled my hair with lather I could not help but think back to the nightmare I just had. I studied a little bit of psychology before so I know that dreams and nightmares are either representation of held back desires or of traumatic experiences.

My dreams all had one thing in common and it's that girl, the girl named Miyanaga Saki. If I picked between the two definitions I would say mine would be the second one. Despite the success my high school achieved that girl haunted my dreams like a phantom. It was already a big blow for me that I could not best her in any of our games but what she kept doing throughout our battles dealt an irreparable blow to my ego.

I was already applying soap to my shoulders, armpits and chest when I started to remembering our first battle. Compared to the other two competitors I had to face in our match she was the silent killer. The other two proudly displayed their abilities while she only watched silently. It was not until near the end when she erupted and slapped all of us down with consecutive wins. On the last hand she could have finished the game and my team wouldn't have made it through if she didn't relent. I took that chance and scored a big hand for my team and earned us a spot for the semi-finals by reaching second place. Even after that success, I didn't walk back to my team the same person that I was when we started that match. From analyzing her hand and her actions I came to the conclusion that she took it easy for me. No… 'Taking it easy' was an understatement, she totally gave me the second place.

I turned the shower's knob to stop the running water for awhile. I took a wooden stool and sat on it to properly apply soap on my thighs and my lower body. After the quarter finals I told myself that it was a mere coincidence. I deluded myself that it was by my ability that I got second place. My coach did everything to encourage me and even had me practice with a professional who had the ability to mimic other people's abilities to a certain extent. I told myself that it was exactly what I needed to have an edge over that girl. I was stupid to think that, I was too naïve. Nobody can mimic that monster… nobody. I remembered scoring in the final round of that match and I took second place again. But what I remembered more was what she said to me in the end "Tomorrow you will stand by my side as second place in the awards ceremony."

Back then I was really terrified. I even shouted at her "I don't need your help and I will win!" in a rebellious tone. For the first time in my life I found myself backing away like a little kitten in front of a mischievous child. She stood there smiling at me, as I kept backpedalling away. When I was far enough I turned and ran for it. I just had to get out of there.

Finally I washed myself directly in the running water. I was about to finish with my bath and cleanse my body from all the soap, shampoo and conditioner I applied. I wasn't too much in a hurry and I worried more about properly cleaning myself. We'll be practicing all day long today, its best that I'm comfortable when we play. When we reached the championships, our coach once again did her best to encourage me but our school was dominated in the very beginning of the match. Another monster with the same name as Miyanaga Saki destroyed our vanguard and it was only by sheer dumb luck that we managed to hang on. Back then we were so far back that we're in the very last place and the first place was leading over a hundred and fifty thousand points from the second place.

That match was the match Miyanaga Saki truly made a name for herself. It was also the match where I truly lost myself. I watched her dismantle the 'most dangerous first year' of that time little by little. Dai San Gen, Kokushi Musou, Little Four Winds, Nine Gates, Suu'ankou and Suu'kantsu; truly I have never seen anyone perform so many yakumans in one match and most of them were direct hits at Oohoshi Awaii.

At the end of that match Saki approached me again and said "whew, I almost failed." Her face looked sincere; she did look like she almost failed at something.

I was surprised by this, I wondered what she meant. "Almost failed? You were already ahead for so many hands how can you say that?" I should've known what she meant. She didn't reply but she only raised her hand and pointed at the score board. That's when I saw my own score. My school's point was exactly at 'zero' while Achiga was at 'negative one'. One more and I would not have taken second place. Then it hit me, once again it's her who placed me on this spot. At that point I almost broke down; it became obvious to me that I was her toy who she enjoyed seeing on second place.

After the tournament I told myself that everything will be different once I become a professional. However it took me two years before I joined a legitimate team. Deep inside my mind I questioned myself if I really had it in me to play mahjong. If there was someone with the ability to manipulate my score with her will, can I still even call that game 'mahjong'? After two years of being a total burden to my parents I finally decided to push through and continue my dream of being a professional. This is my first team and my first open tournament, but… why am I having these dreams again?

I started drying my hair in front of the mirror. I didn't have to drape myself with a towel because the door was locked and I'm on the second floor. After drying my hair I used a red ribbon to keep my hair up on the back of my head. People say I look better with my hair down but I don't agree. Even if I do look better I find it to be a hindrance rather than an asset. Even with that said I still dislike the idea of cutting it and I prefer styling it like such. Using a hairdryer it took me twenty minutes to properly dry my hair. After that I wore the clothes I prepared.

Nobody was in the second floor hall when I got out of my room. Neither did it seem that my other teammates were still in bed. I supposed that they were already downstairs having breakfast. It would be rude to keep them waiting since I'm already late as it is. When I got down most of them was sitting down in the dining room in front of the dining table. All of them looked happy to see me except for one.

"Good morning Kyouko! Marvelous outfit!" One of them greeted me happily. Her name is Hanada Kirame. I know she just complemented my looks but her expression was 'tsubarashi or simply tsubara- which translates to marvelous' so I'm not sure if I should take it as a proper praise. Like me, this girl has experienced the National High School Competition. She didn't make it to the championships but she experienced fighting the former champion which is something to be proud of.

"Thanks, I'm sorry I'm late." I took my seat in between Kanbara and Hanada. The dishes prepared on the table all looked so delicious. The plating in each plate didn't look 'Japanese' in fact if I was to say, this meal is Italian. For appetizers there were some Braciole and Capicollo. For the entrees there were Sausage Rolls dipped in Italian hot-sauce some Pasta Carbonara and even Lasagna. There was also some Saffron Risotto and for dessert there were some Anisettes. The drinks we had were some orange juice which were not Italian but it didn't matter it's still obvious that whoever decided to cook was fond of Italian dishes.

"Being late is not a good sign of a proper discipline." One of my teammates replied. She sounded mad and among my other teammates she's the only person who didn't seem happy to see me. Her name was Yae Kobashiri, the previous ace of a school called Bansei High. Like me she reached National Level multiple times, two times to be exact cause on her third attempt her school got eliminated by Achiga in the first round. I'm not usually one to judge but this son of a… I mean, this teammate of mine is presumptuous, arrogant and delusional… basically she's not very fun to be with.

"I'm sorry; I'll do my best so that it won't happen again." I replied. I didn't want to piss her off more because we had important games tomorrow. Ruining her mood here might mean ruining our chance tomorrow. After all she's playing vanguard and I don't want our team to have our points shaved in the early beginnings of the match.

The professional teams are structured similar to the high school and middle school teams but with one exception. In the professional teams, teams are not restricted to have only five playing members. We are allowed to name seven members: five active players and two substitutes (the privates). Basically what happens is that we can remove one main player depending on our strategy or because of some other reasons the ranks will be pushed up. For example, if our general can't play then the vice will take her position, the lieutenant will take the vice's position, the sergeant will take the lieutenant's, the vanguard will take the sergeants and one private will take the vanguard's position.

"After eating we'll be talking about our positions for tomorrow's tournament." Our team president interrupted. Her name is Sera Eguchi and she was the previous lieutenant of Senriyama High School. Because of Shiraitodai and Achiga her school didn't make it to the championships in her final year. To her dismay, she wasn't able to apply to the same teams her High School teammates were accepted in. So, with the help of some veterans she managed to make her own team a year ago. Some of the original members have left. I'm a new member and my entry to this team was not until two months ago.

"L-Let's eat then." A shy girl wearing glasses invited us to start. Her name was Kozue Furuzuka the former lieutenant of a school called Kentani High. She also managed to reach the nationals but she didn't make it very far.

"Thank you for the food!" Cheered the girl who calls herself Nagi Shinmen. This girl is another nationals player. She was the top player of Sanomo High School but had the unfortunate chance of playing against a girl named Kuro Matsumi. The dragon lord ate her up back then but now she's also playing as a professional in our team. This girl is rather peculiar because she always carries a pair of swords around her waist. Those swords are legitimate killing weapons so I don't know how she's allowed to carry them.

With their invitation, we started eating and all of us took our time in doing so. After all the dishes in front of us were truly delectable and it's a shame to eat them in a hurry.

"Suehara-san would it be okay if you play as our general tomorrow?" Our president asked me. I was taken aback by this question. General? Me? The qualities of a general are very specific. A general must be able to reverse the tide of the game!

"Me? But president I think you're more suited for that position." I replied. I just didn't feel like I had it in me to play as the team's anchor. The general position is called the 'anchor' simply because it's the final life support for any team. In the end of the day it's ultimately up to the general whether the team would advance or not.

"I've watched your games before and I was pretty impressed on how you made that comeback in the quarter finals. Your enemies then were no joke either; Saki Miyanaga was even in that match."

"Ah… that…" For some reason I already had an idea what she meant even before she said it. I wondered how I should tell her that my comeback back then was a big lie orchestrated by Miyanaga Saki herself. Should I even say that? Who would believe me if I told them that? Instead, I just continued eating some of the Saffron Risotto.

"It's a good plan that I'm to be the vanguard. My ability to gather points is unparalleled in Bansei." The girl who calls herself Yae spoke aloud. She sounded quite sure of herself. That description 'unparalleled in Bansei' didn't impress me as much as I supposed it should have. Even if Bansei managed to enter the nationals twice in a row with her in it they started sucking a lot when Achiga entered the scene. For the past three years it was the team of Achiga, led by a girl named Shizuno Takakamo, which dominated the prefecture of Nara.

"Speaking of our former schools, has any of your kouhais said anything about joining our team?" Our president Sera enthusiastically asked. Even if the only required number of members to join a tournament was seven more members still mean better. Not only will numbers help our popularity which will in turn lure in sponsors but also will allow us to join more tournaments.

"I convinced my junior Kaori Senou to join us." Kanbara replied with that usual happy face she displays. I remembered the name of that girl, she's not all too special but she has incredible luck.

"I couldn't get in contact with mine." Yae replied. Even if she said that, I can't imagine how she can't get in contact with her old teammates. I'm not one to jump into conclusions but I imagined that something might've happened.

After Yae it was my turn to tell my professional colleagues about my previous teammates. Sera looked at me with hopeful eyes which I was about to disappoint. Unfortunately even after trying my best to convince some of them they were all set about joining my previous captain and ace Hiroe Atago.

"I'm sorry my previous teammates told me that they want to join Hiroe instead." I tried to say this calmly. I saw Sera sigh in despair after hearing this.

"Well it can't be helped. We're relatively new after all." Said Sera. She tried to hide it but I could tell that she was heart broken after hearing this. A team that has too few members can easily be disbanded because of many factors in which the largest is 'lack of sponsors'. Right now Kanbara's kind aunt is one of those sponsors but we can't just depend on her for eternity that won't be right.

"Do we know who we're playing tomorrow?" I asked in desperate attempt to change the topic.

"Yes, it's not going to be too hard. It's a team called Tile Pushers." Sera nodded. She had a huge smile on her face. It was apparent to me that we will be fighting a bunch of nobodies tomorrow.

"Yep I saw them; they're previous Nagano players from the school of Toufukuji. The others are from east Chikuma." Nagi Shinmen looked at me with a smile herself. The school Toufukuji was probably the third best school in Nagano before Kiyosumi and Tsuruga came in and upset the balance. However that being said, this previous third school in the prefecture doesn't really mean anything. In my days as a high-school mahjong player I've never seen them qualify for any national competition. East Chikuma isn't even in the map.

"And the other team is?" There are supposed to be four teams in a mahjong match and Nagi just told me too of them. There should be one more.

"The rest is a mysterious team that just appeared. The members of the team have no records at all." Sera interrupted and explained. She twisted her mouth which immediately told me that even she was mystified.

"Even if we can't prepare for them I'm sure it's fine if we can properly shutdown the other two teams." Kanbara who noticed that we we're beginning to lose some of our confidence encouraged us. She was right, sometimes it's impossible to prepare against an enemy. When that happens the best thing to do is to sharpen our own skills. That way anything that the enemy can throw at us we can just tackle normally.

"I don't think it's proper to underestimate them. They've been playing against the monster team of Kiyosumi, Ryuumonbochi, Tsuruga and Kazekoshi so we should expect them to play better than they did back in high-school. I warned my teammates. I know how it felt to fight someone like Miyanaga Saki. When you face that kind of demon you are either encouraged to force yourself to improve or cry and quit. Since they're still playing mahjong I'm worried that they experienced the later effect.

"I agree."

Sera nodded while finishing a plate of lasagna.

"Some of the members in their team are dark horses." Sera explained as she began filling her plate with some Carbonara.

"Dark horses?" I asked. It felt weird to see the captain chow down this much. I wondered how she kept fit if this is how she usually eats. Then again, she always wears her jacket in a 'gangster' like fashion which led me to think that she's an outgoing tomboy which means she gets enough exercise for everything she eats.

"Some of them had very little chances of appearing in many tournaments basically because the active playing members were hogging the spotlight." Sera explained as she pushed a mouthful of Carbonara down her throat.

"We had people like those in my team before." Nagi Shinmen interrupted. I could see where the both of them were coming from. Back in Himematsu there were many aspirants who could only watch us, the regulars, play. I have to admit that some of them were very promising and it saddens me now to think that it was our fault that their growth was suspended.

"In Bansei only those with talent are given the opportunity to take a regular's seat." Once again Yae decided to take the spotlight. She looked extremely proud. Sometimes it makes me wonder if she really believes all her achievements are worth something. I mean unless you made it to the finals of the nationals, you're basically a 'regular Joe' in the world of mahjong.

"Wahaha, our team was so small that everyone was considered a regular." Kanbara added. I didn't know whether to feel good or feel sad about her comment. On one side I guess it was great that she didn't have to feel pity for those who didn't make the roster but on the other hand it shows how much their team was actually worth. Now please don't get me wrong, Tsuruga is a school I wouldn't tackle unprepared but on another side they're not exactly the strongest in their prefecture.

"We have loads of those in Senriyama but we always let them play in a tournament one way or the other." Sera looked confused. It was apparent that she didn't understand how it was to be left in the sidelines. Back in high-school I remember that Sera's name gave most players the chills as she was once the ace of Senriyama before a girl named Toki entered the picture.

"Do we have any game records of our opponents tomorrow?" I asked. I remembered how we of Himematsu used to prepare for any of our team-games. We will watch games of our enemies on a plasma screen LED television until we memorize our enemy's bad habits and possible weaknesses.

"We have some videos taken from their prefectural battles but like I said, some of their players are Dark Horses. We will have to take those on blindly." Sera replied. She just finished her third sausage roll.

"L-Let' do our best with our practice then." I nodded as I take some portion of the sausages. I decided to end the topic I started and allow our leader to concentrate with her eating.

Ten o'clock A.M. It was an hour after we started eating when we decided to start our practice. I was in the kitchen helping Kanbara with the dishes while the others prepared the mahjong tables on the second floor where we hold our practices. I felt bad that Kanbara had to help with the dishes; after all it was her aunt that helped us acquire this place.

"Why don't you go up already? I can take care of these myself." Satomi asked me. She still had that smile that's seemingly imprinted on her face.

"No, it's faster this way."

I replied. I imagined that the others are probably finished setting up by now. We have to hurry this up or we might delay our training. However there's another reason why I wanted to help her and that's because I wanted to ask her something.

"Kanbara-san, are you alright with taking the 'private' position?" I asked. Even though the Private position is required in the tournament, they're basically sacrificial pawns or replacements. I couldn't imagine someone to willingly accept that position.

"Wahaha, yes why do you ask?" She replied, still with that smile.

"I've seen how you play, you don't have many weaknesses and you're pretty solid with your gameplay." I remembered watching her matches against Kiyosumi and some other tough schools. Sure they lost but she didn't lose many points. If I compare her to some of the current members in higher positions like let's say Yae then I can argue that she's far better.

"Wahaha, that's exactly why I'm taking the role of private."

Satomi replied with full confidence. I didn't quite understand what she meant but even if she looked and sounded happy I felt sad after hearing it.

"A new team like ours need to take risks instead of playing safe. Don't you agree?" She returned a question to me. At that point I understood why she was the captain of Tsuruga. Even though Kanjiki was the general and the highest point grabber of Tsuruga I can see now how this girl kept the team together.

After a few minutes, both of us removed our gloves and aprons to join the others on the second floor. After entering our play/practice room I saw four people already practicing: Hanada Kirame was playing east, Captain Sera was playing South, Nagi Shinmen was playing on west and Yae was playing north. I checked the scores and saw that Sera was leading by a reasonably large margin against the second place Kirame. The scores were forty-two thousand and seventy-five points for Sera, twenty-two thousand and seven hundred for Hanada, twenty thousand and seventy-five points for Nagi and fifteen thousand one hundred and fifty for Yae Kobashiri.

"Sera is doing marvelous again today." Hanada Kirame said this like it was the happiest thing in the world. Sometimes I wonder if she and Kanbara were like lost sisters or something. They both have this happy-go-lucky aura with them.

"Just lucky, just lucky." Sera said this in her usual Kansai accent. I don't admire her as much as I admired my own captain back then but she can really stand up to her reputation. If it wasn't for Toki's future sight ability she would've remained as Senriyama's ace. She's not as dominant as the legendary Miyanaga Teru or the catastrophe that is Miyanaga Saki but she's an unstoppable force when left unchecked. Sometimes I still ask myself why she isn't in a well known professional team. One of these days I will ask her that.

"I haven't scored yet." I heard Nagi sigh. I checked the score chart and found out that she indeed has yet to win a hand. Surprisingly the usually timid Hanada managed to win one big hand which allowed her to be within firing distance to the first place. This is surprising because Hanada's ability isn't something that gives her high scores but more of a 'fail safe' ability that sustains her from going bankrupt.

However, Nagi did pretty well defending her points compared to the fourth place. I looked at Yae and it was nothing more than pitiful. Not only did she suffer loss in points but she was also the dealer in most of those hands so she took brutal hits. If this was a team match then the sergeant would have to double her efforts to jump back thanks to her losses.

"I- I was unlucky that's all." Yae complained. It seems that she noticed how I looked at her. She avoided eye contact and turned away from me. She was very defensive as if she had something to prove.

"I see…" I replied. I tried to be as sympathetic as I could but whatever I said might just fall to deaf ears.

"Want to take a turn Suehara-san?" Nagi Shinmen turned to me. It looked like she had her fill for now. I can understand how dismaying it is not to win any hand in a match. Trust me, it feels disheartening. I nodded and replaced her as she happily stood up and jumped on the couch a few meters away from the mahjong table. Even when she was lying down on that bean-couch her swords were still strapped on her waist in their sheaths. Isn't that uncomfortable?

"New comers get to deal!" Sera exclaimed. She just made this rule up. I had nothing against it though. I'm fine with being east. Other than Hanada-san, nobody in this table has a special ability and Hanada's ability isn't really something I need to be scared of. I was sure that I could play comfortably in this match.

After allowing the automated table to fix our tiles I dealt everyone's share of tiles properly. I was playing east, Sera on south, Hanada on west and Yae on north. Everyone looked so calm as I pressed the button to shake the dice except for Yae who was eager to bounce back from her loss before.

I didn't take the time to look at my tiles properly as I arranged them properly. In an amateur match it doesn't really need to be in any order but for ranked matches you need to have them arranged in the proper order of characters, sticks, balls, winds then dragons from left to right. After properly and neatly arranging my tiles I checked for possible combinations. I noticed something amazing: I had three white dragons, three five of sticks, two six of sticks, three six of balls and two six of characters and a red dragon. I was basically complete as I threw my extra red dragon and since I'm east I couldn't draw in the first turn. I could've thrown in a riichi stick but that just isn't my style.

"Marvelous! I'll take that! Pon!" Hanada eagerly called my red dragon. Since Hanada was seated west that pon did not change the order of draws at all. It was still Sera's turn.

Sera looked disgusted when she drew a tile. I thought she probably had a terrible hand. Did she exhaust all her luck in her previous game? She discarded a tile of one ball. Her discard didn't help anyone of us on the board.

Hanada tossed the tile she drew and ended her turn almost in an instant. When Yae drew, she had a smirk on her face. It was easy to read that she had a rather big hand.

"Riichi!" I heard her shout. I know it's exciting to toss a riichi stick out to gain more points but she didn't have to sound so excited about it.

Finally, my turn came. I drew my tile and to my surprise it was the white dragon. This tile doesn't complete my hand but it does give me a full set of white dragons, in other words, a Kan. I had two choices, I could either discard it or declare a Kan but since I picked this tile up myself it would still be considered a 'closed' hand so I still get to keep it as tsumo so I'm not going to lose any value by doing so.

"Kan." I declared. After taking my free tile from the dead wall a switch was flipped in my brain. It was the third six of characters, a Rinshan Kaihou. I couldn't help but smile weirdly to ridicule my own fortune upon taking this tile. What is it about things these days that keep reminding me about her? This is the signature move of the girl that haunted me for the past two years and continues to do so.

"Is there something wrong Suehara-san?" Sera noticed the change in my expression. I waved my head in reply.

"Nothing. Rinshan Kaihou, that's a dealer mangan, four thousand all please." I revealed my hand as I declared my win. Everybody gasped. A Rinshan Kaihou is a very rare Yaku that only one person has specialized in. I guess to see it coming from me is indeed a spectacle but I don't consider it that special. Surely everyone has managed to score with it once or twice in their lifetime. Overall I won seventeen thousand in this hand including the single riichi stick that Yae threw.

"That's amazing! Just like Miyanaga!" Sera looked extremely surprised. Her comment gave me the shivers because saying 'like Miyanaga' reminds me of that nightmare I just had.

"Y-You don't say…" I tried my best to keep my composure and hide my discomfort. No matter how hard I try to shake it off it felt like some sort of bad omen or of a foreshadowing.

After that hand I managed to win a few more rounds. I wasn't able to make another Rinshan Kaihou so I guess I was just lucky the first round. I managed to win in this match and had forty-two thousand points, Sera was my second and she was at twenty-nine thousand, Hanada wasn't very far either since she had twenty-four thousand and our proud vanguard had nine thousand points remaining. Honestly fuck our vanguard…

"You were amazing Suehara-san!" Sera looked ecstatic after the match. I can understand the feeling of seeing your teammate improve but this girl did not care about losing that match at all did she?

"Everybody has their day I guess." I replied and thanked my luck for my win.

"Marvelous! If you bring that same kind of skill tomorrow we're a shoe-in!" Hanada was of course always ready to give her compliments. But unfortunately I think it had the opposite effect, now I'm scared that I've used up all my luck and skill today.

"I- I demand another game!" Yae Kobashiri slammed her palm on the board. It seems that this girl will never acknowledge me or anyone.

I would usually take up the offer of a challenge but I feel different today. After that Rinshan Kaihou I somehow felt troubled and distressed.

"Maybe later may I excuse myself just for a bit? I think I need some fresh air." I apologized to Yae and turned to Sera.

Sera looked at me with worried eyes and so did some of the other members. Kanbara and Hanada were also looking at me, they had their staple happy faces but I could tell that they were also worried.

"W-What's wrong Suehara-san? I-Is my cooking hurting your tummy?" Kozue asked. So… she was the one who prepared that Italian feast.

"N-No I just feel a little dizzy." I replied. This was a lie. I just really wanted to get off the table for now.

"Wahaha maybe it's because of the dishwashing –soap. Inhaling too much of it can be bad"

"Maybe…" I replied with a chuckle.

"Okay then, please rest for awhile. Go out and enjoy the sun for a bit." Sera suggested. This was what exactly what I was hoping to do. Maybe if I take a little stroll I'll feel better and so I did.

Outside the mansion was refreshing. The mansion was located near a park far away from the pollution of the buildings of the city. It's also near the common residential area so there were many children in the park not too far away. The captain gave me up to after lunch for my break so I might as well spend it somewhere nice like that park.

As I expected the park was filled with children and their parents. Some of them only had guardians but most of them were guarded by the watchful eyes of their loved ones. That park was had the ever so necessary slide that's shaped like a frog stretching its tongue. There were swings, seesaws and monkey bars. Most of the children were taking turns on the slide while some were pushing each other on the swing. I could see little using the monkey bars, I guess today's generation isn't that fond of them. I saw an ice-cream vendor and bought a strawberry Popsicle. On this hot day maybe my hallucinations are the result of this scorching weather.

"I start again tomorrow huh?" Tomorrow is the first official ranked tournament I will be participating in since I stopped for two years. I was rather apprehensive. If I can perform tomorrow as well as I did today we might have a good chance. What am I saying? We have Sera Eguchi on our side; of course we have a good chance. After all tomorrow we'll be only clashing against fish baits. Thinking that, I'm feeling rather hypocritical since I'm the one who warned my teammates not to underestimate them in the first place.

I shook my head and waved it from left to right. I had to stop thinking about tomorrow's match or I won't be able to rest. I checked my watch, it was already ten forty-five, and I had to bounce back before I go back. I tried my hardest to forget everything about my dreams and that Rinshan Kaihou I did awhile ago. If I am to keep my calm I have to throw all my worries and look forward, that's the only way. I saw a bench for two with one girl who looked like she was in third year high school occupying one side. Maybe I can start relaxing by watching the kids play from here?

"May I share this seat with you?" I asked the girl. The girl was very slender wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and gray shorts. She was also wearing a cap that hid her hair and face from me so I could only see the outline of her jaw. She was holding a book on her lap which made me a bit uncomfortable because I just realized that I disturbed her from her reading.

"I'll be sad if you didn't." Replied the girl. I felt rather awkward about this statement. I mean, I'm sure she meant well but it sounded more like she expected me to sit there.

"T-Thanks." I replied. I told myself not to take her statement seriously and just take it as a slip of the tongue.

"You seem troubled oneechan…" To my surprise the girl began a conversation with me. She said this without putting her book down or removing her cap. Usually people would call this rude but today's modern times we let this pass.

"Do I? I- I guess it shows on my face doesn't it?" I scratched my cheek with my point finger and turned away embarrassed. I didn't know that I was already so worked up that even random strangers could notice my anxiety.

"It's not any of my business but if you don't start licking your Popsicle it will melt before you enjoy it." The girl said this before giving of a chuckle.

I looked at my ice-cream and saw that it was indeed slowly melting on my hand. Now I feel even more embarrassed.

"Y-You're right…" I blushed as I began licking the dripping melted juice off my Popsicle. I licked the sides of that ice-cream stick evenly and made sure not to have it tilt on one side where it will begin to slide off the stick.

"Ahaha how erotic."

"E-Eh?! Where did that come from?!" I stood up flustered as I heard the girl chuckle in my expense and stomped on the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry it's just that you looked so cute licking that Popsicle I couldn't help but tease you." The girl replied. Even though she was hitting me with these she still kept her book and never even tilted her boy's cap to show me her face.

"I-It's not very polite to tease someone you just met!" I yelped. I really felt annoyed on how she casually teased me like it was the most natural thing to do.

"Forgive me already. At least you don't look so down anymore." The girl replied. After that I noticed that she was right. Fooling around with her like that made me forget about my worries for a bit. I bit the left side of my lower lip in defeat.

"If we're going to talk like this we might as well introduce ourselves!"

For some reason I wanted to know more about this girl. Even though she was impolite to me just now, she did help me recover from my slump. If she was going to talk this familiar to me then we might as well know each other's names right?

"My name is-…!"

"Kyouko Suehara, the general and vice president of Himematsu High School two years ago am I right?" I was shocked. This girl whom I'm meeting for the first time actually knew my name and where I studied.

"H-How did you-…"

"Why is such an accomplished player only making her debut after two years of graduation?" She asked as if she was ridiculing me.

"Well I-…"

"You suddenly disappeared from the news because you stopped joining any tournaments. You also didn't join any team until now. I'm sure your fans were very disappointed." The girl said this and she sounded displeased.

"Fans? I don't think I had any…" I tried my best to regain my composure. Is this girl a fan? A stalker? Why does she know so much about me? All of a sudden from a potential friend she began to look like a dangerous carnivore waiting to bear its fangs from my perspective.

"Such humility."

The girl said this in a mocking tone. I began to feel like I've done something to this girl for her to hate me this much.

"No matter you're finally back, you're in a team called Nine Lanterns. I'm sure your fans will love it to see you play again."

She sounded sincerely happy in saying this. After hearing this I'm more inclined to think of her as a fan than as a stalker. I didn't know how to react; I've never had a fan before. I've watched Hiroe Atago deal with fans before and all she did was write her name on some canvas or shirt but she was never confronted by one like this.

"But this won't do…"

To my surprise the girl placed her book down and took my right hand. It was that hand which was covered with some Popsicle juice. I had to take my Popsicle with my left hand as she pulled me by my right hand.

"Since your game is tomorrow you will probably be practicing all day long today. If you held your tiles like this then they will get all sticky. How did you do it with the Popsicle again? Like this?" What she did after was more shocking than the things she already said and done. She raised my hand to her lips then began licking my fingers and at one point even sucked on them.

"W-What are you doing?!" I gasped as I tried to pull my hand away from her. I supposed it was the wrong thing to do since people now began to look at us.

"I'll be cheering on you tomorrow Suehara-san." That girl wasn't finished as she picked her book up and started walking away. She gently took my Popsicle away from me and sucked on its tip, licked and nibbled on it before pushing it gently against my lips in which I was forced to open my mouth and hold the ice-cream by biting on it.

"_T-This pervert!_" I was shaking in both anger and embarrassment. On one hand I wanted to punch her lights out but on the other hand there were kids and parents watching. I didn't want to add more bad reputation to what she already probably caused me.

"After all, win or lose, a master will always cheer for her pet in a competition won't she?" The girl added as she left behind me. My eyes shot wide open when she said this. I turned quickly to confront her but to my surprise nobody was there. She just disappeared. Did she run? Did she use the crowd to hide? How could she just vanish like that? Was that all a dream too? Whatever happened it looks like this 'break' backfired…

Twelve thirty in the afternoon I finally made it back to the mansion.

"Suehara-san you're back! W-Why do you look more exhausted than when you left." Kozue was the first to greet me. This girl is rather cheerful for a glasses girl. Probably because of all the stereotypes in dramas, animes and novels I always pictured every girl wearing round glasses to be silent.

"Excuse me; may I go in my room for awhile?" I smiled as I approached our leader. I didn't mean to ignore Kozue but I felt like I had to go with my business before I kill somebody.

"S-Sure…" I could see sweat trickle down Sera's cheek. I guess she's curious about what's with me but I don't think telling anyone about it would help.

When I reached my room I immediately allowed myself to drop face first on my bed. Instead of getting relaxed I feel more tired than ever. Because of that girl I could hear other people whisper to each other's ears while stealing glances at me. I had to take a restaurant far away from the park to eat to avoid witnesses.

"Who was that girl?" I asked. Of course thanks to her final remarks I had my suspicions but could it really be possible that girl is here? If she was then is she a part of another team in this city? Will she be participating in the tournament tomorrow? I suddenly have lots of questions in my head. I wanted to meditate on these first but I didn't have that luxury as fifteen minutes later a knock on my door interrupted my chain of thoughts.

"Suehara-san, are you okay? Will you be able to join our training?" Sera asked.

"Yes… I'll be coming down in a bit."

I tried my best to get myself up.

"_If that was indeed her she did say that she will be cheering me on in my match. If that's true then it's my chance to show her how much I've changed._" I thought to myself. This is how I convinced myself to cope up. So I took a deep breath and let out a confident shout like how those martial artists do every time they respond to their senseis.

"You sure you're okay?" Sera asked me when we met outside my room.

"Yes I'm ready!" I replied with full spirits. This time it wasn't a lie. Using the fact that my nemesis might be watching me tomorrow I inspired myself to be in perfect form.

"You look rejuvenated, what happened?" Sera asked as we escorted each other to the playing room.

"Sometimes people just need that extra push." I replied with a smile on my face. For me it was more than just a little push but a big strong shrug, but I'm not complaining.

The day passed and our training went by smoothly. If I counted correctly the team practiced for twenty-one games and out of those twenty-one I played in fourteen of them. My win loss ratio was not bad either. I topped ten out of those fourteen games and seven out of those ten had Sera in them. If that was really Saki and if her motivation for meeting me was to discourage me then she failed because I'm livelier than ever. But… what if she came to sincerely cheer on me?

"Suehara-san you're turning red." Nagi Shinmen was the first to notice me space out while we were eating dinner together.

"E-Eh?" I gasped. The image of that girl sincerely cheering for me immediately disappeared from my mind.

"Your face is painting a marvelous shade of red." I didn't know if Hanada was teasing me or if that was a compliment.

"I-Is the chili too hot?" Kozue asked. Once again she took her time to serve these dishes for us.

"N-No." I waved my head in response.

"Oh you must be thinking of someone then." It was Sera's turn to take a shot at me. She had a huge smirk on her face that her chili covered teeth showed.

"I-It's the weather and…" God these guys are having fun teasing me. I swear even Kanbara was giving me that look.

"Wahaha was it somebody you met when you went out awhile ago?"

"Ye- I mean no!" I shouted and stood up. At that point every one of them laughed except the girl named Yae Kobashiri.

"Wahaha right on the head of the nail!" Kanbara looked rather happier than usual. I can feel my blood rush to my cheeks even more now.

"C-Can we just concentrate on tomorrow's game?!" I shouted and begged.

"Nah we already finished training didn't we?" Sera shook her head.

"Yeah too much training before the actual game is no good." Kanbara added. These two were ones captains in their own teams so I'm sure they know what they were talking about.

"But seriously Kyouko you look a lot happier since you returned. Was there really anyone?" She asked with a rather serious face, well not really, she was trying to be serious but I could spot a smirk hidden under the guise of that seriousness.

"I'm telling you there's none!" I sat back down and forced all my weight on the seat that I almost toppled myself off balance backwards.

"Suehara-san, what's that thing in your blouse's chest pocket?" Kozue pointed at my chest. I looked and saw a stick, a Popsicle stick without the Popsicle.

"A-Ah this is." I took the stick out from my pocket.

"So you ate Popsicle out! Good idea, in this hot weather it will really rejuvenate you after one serving of coldies like that." Kanbara interrupted.

"Eh? Now that you said that I kinda want some ice-cream too… by the way Kyouko why did you keep the stick? Is there some sort of price?" I saw Nagi display a frown.

"Ah- eh… well I" I am desperately in a pickle now. Why haven't I tossed this thing out? I'm embarrassed to say this but after what that girl did I still had the audacity to finish the Popsicle. I guess I didn't like wasting money but I didn't have any reasonable answer.

"Hey… that's just a normal popsicle." I didn't notice Hanada was already behind me looking closely at the stick.

"Eh? There's no value of keeping it then. Did you just forget to throw it?" Sera sounded disappointed. I too would've appreciated it if this stick carried with it a prize at least that would save me from this interrogation.

"Let me throw it for you then Suehara-san."

Kozue reached out to me with an open hand. Thanks to Kozue's offer all I needed to do was give her the stick and my troubles are gone. But what is this feeling inside my heart which is pulling my hand back from giving the stick.

"What's wrong Suehara-san?" Kozue tilted her head as if to observe me closer.

I felt my hand tremble as I reached to her to give her the stick. Thump…. Thump… thump… my heartbeat was racing with each thump louder than the last.

"O-On second thought I'll throw it myself!" I retracted my hand and rushed out of the dining room and raced up the stairs. I heard Kozue yelp and ask 'did I do something wrong?' after I left.

I locked the door of my room after slamming it. I hugged the stick close to my chest as if it was something important. I didn't understand it myself but for some reason I couldn't part with this piece of troublesome wood. I didn't notice it but I was standing and leaning on my door for almost five minutes with my eyes closed. In that time I remembered how I hid from the crowd after that girl left. When nobody was looking I shamelessly finished the Popsicle which that girl already licked, nibbled and sucked on. When I opened my eyes I found myself doing that again minus the ice-cream on the stick.

"W-What am I doing?!" I shouted at myself before I threw the stick against the wall on the opposite side of the room. For the third time today, three knocks on the door returned me back to my senses. I opened the door to answer it and found all of my teammates on the opposite side.

"Suehara-san we're all sorry for teasing you too much." It was Sera who greeted me first. She had her hands in a prayer gesture as she asked me for forgiveness.

"Yes Kyouko we were only having a little bit of fun." Kanbara added.

"We couldn't help it; you were so marvelously cute back there." Hanada snickered. This girl doesn't look sincere at all. But that didn't matter since I wasn't really angry.

"Its okay guys I'm not mad. I guess I'm just tired from all of today's training." I lied. I wondered if they would buy it. After all I only erupted when Kozue was about to take that stick away from me, I'm sure that caused some suspicion.

"I know what you mean! You topped in most of the games today I'm sure you must be exhausted." Nagi Shinmen approached me to look at me more closely. I wished that she wouldn't do that because I think my cheeks are still red.

"I'll bring you your dinner then Kyouko." Kanbara volunteered.

"Wait y-you don't have to!" I felt embarrassed that Satomi Kanbara had to put it on herself to give me my dinner which I abandoned on the table awhile ago.

"Wahaha I insist." Before I could stop her she already walked away to fetch me my dinner.

"Having problems like these after only that much training is pathetic…" Yae remarked from behind the group.

"Ah… sorry…" I tried not get pissed but this son of a… this girl is already really getting to my nerves.

"Okay then let's properly conclude our training for now! Everybody get some rest! We have a big day tomorrow!" Like a true leader Sera urged us on. We all replied by shouting 'ow!' with full confidence.

So it happened, Kanbara did bring me my food and everyone was allowed to rest how they please. As for me, I decided to take a quick shower after eating before I hit the bed. I made sure I especially washed my hands because they were covered not only by some ice-cream but also by that girl's saliva. I'll be playing as general tomorrow so I won't be on the field until four of my teammates are finished playing. When I was finally satisfied I tucked myself in and hoped that I wouldn't have one of those weird dreams again.

The last thing I remembered when I closed my eyes was the ceiling but the first thing I saw when I opened them was the frog shaped slide that was in the children's park. 'Why am I here?' Was the only question in my mind then. I looked around and saw that everything looked exactly like the children's park except that there were neither children nor anybody.

"Hellooo!" I shouted to check if I was really alone. True enough my voice echoed throughout the place. I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of zombie apocalypse. Maybe some sort of virus broke out while I was asleep and now I'm alone. It's something I got from watching some series in one of my favorite networks.

"There won't be any undead coming if that's what you're hoping for." A small voice replied to my call.

"Y-You!" I turned behind me and saw the same girl that licked my hand a while ago.

"You don't sound too happy to see me." The girl said this rather playfully. She even helped herself to move the swing a few times before I stopped her myself by going behind her and holding the swing's chains.

"Because of you people look at me as a third rate pervert!" I angrily accused her for my embarrassing experiences today.

"Really? But I thought you enjoyed that. Didn't you savor every last drop of that Popsicle?" She replied with her face still hidden where only her playful smile reaches me.

"H-Hey! Don't get me wrong! Don't get it twisted! I just didn't like the idea of wasting food!" I forcibly denied her accusations.

"Say what you will but you've been sucking on that stick a minute ago just before you decided to sleep." She said this after a mocking snort.

"W-Well I- I…"

"There's no point debating this with me in a dream. I'm not sure if you already realize that." This girl just answered one question that has been lingering with me in the back of my mind. In fact at one point I thought I just fell asleep in the park and I just woke up and that maybe all that training I did was nothing but a dream.

"I- I knew that…" I could feel my face fluster as I avoided eye contact with her while trying my best not to look more of an idiot than I already do.

"You're always so cute when you blush, even if it's only in a dream. Make sure to make me proud tomorrow okay?" She said in a happy-go-lucky tone.

"W-What? Why would I need to do that? You're her aren't you?" I finally asked. I tried my best not to get affected by that first comment she made. I stood in front of the swing she was on and held the chains still so she would stop swaying.

"Her?"

"Don't play with me. You're Saki Miyanaga aren't you?" I continued. I was beginning to get pissed at her playing coy.

"Well that depends."

"Depends?"

"Yes, if by 'Saki' you mean the three time National Champion of the High-school Girl's Division in both the team competition and the individuals then yes, I am. If you meant the girl who blindly chased her sister until she broke down then no I am not." She replied.

"What?" I was puzzled. All of a sudden I begin to ask myself if this really is a dream. I mean is it really possible that this girl is giving me this information in my subconscious?

"It's hard to explain like this. You'll just have to ask me in person it's not going to be much longer until we're reunited anyway." She only deepened my confusion by telling me that.

"What?!" Now I was pissed. After exciting me like that she ends everything and leave me hanging? I feel like I watched an adaption of Little Red Riding Hood where everything ended with Red Riding hood's head inside the wolf's mouth as it prepares to swallow her whole.

Before I could complain anymore she stretched out both her hands to my chest and cupped the part of my body that I wasn't very proud of.

"These didn't really grow a lot since the last time we met huh?" She said in a teasing tone as she cupper and groped both my breasts. For some reason it took my mind ten seconds to react before I swiped her hand away.

"G-Gyah stop it you pervert!" I pushed myself away from her. She then stood up from the swing's seat. I asked myself if she did that to tease me or if she just wanted me to move away so she could stand up from the swing.

"You better wake up already. You don't want to be late for your debut do you?" She said this with a smirk on her face.

"E-Eh? Wait what do you, what do you-…!? Ah!" Before I could ask anymore I felt the ground beneath me split and break. I stretched out my arms to reach out for her but I was swallowed by the hole that opened beneath my feet. The last thing I saw was her smiling at me as fell deeper before everything turned into complete darkness.

"Suehara-san it's morning! The sun is so marvelous today!" By the words she used I can tell as much that she was Hanada Kirame.

I checked the clock and saw that It was already seven o'clock. The tournament opens at ten o'clock but the games don't start after lunch. However the registration closes rather early so we need to go there at least an hour before the registration starts.

"I'm coming down in a while!" I replied to Kirame's call. Before going down of course I had to do my daily hygiene routine. I did my best not to think about last night's weird dream while I went through everything because I really need to concentrate on today's games. We'll only have one game today because it's the first day. On the succeeding days the games will be held three times a day for two weeks. My choice of clothes were a black blouse, short pants that extended only a few inches above my knee and my staple choice of ribbon to hold my hair.

I made sure to head down immediately after everything. I was worried that a certain someone would scold me again for being a few seconds late. True enough I met her on the way down and it seems she just finished preparing.

"G-Good morning." I took it as my duty to greet her first. I mean, she has been acting rather indifferent towards me so I shouldn't expect such courtesy coming from her.

"Good morning." To my surprise she returned my greeting. I guess this girl is capable of being social every once in a while. However she didn't return my look so I can't help but wonder if she really intended to greet me or if she was just forcing herself to do so.

In the dining room everybody who came down first were already sitting on the table. Sera, Satomi and Hanada were all cheerfully smiling at us as they invited us to sit down while the other two looked more nervous than happy. I can understand why, no matter how experienced you are it's impossible not to feel anything when you join a tournament because it's always a new experience.

"Suehara-san it's your debut you must be very excited!" Sera looked thrilled for me as I sat beside her in the dining room. I wanted to answer 'no' but I didn't want to discourage the others.

"Y-Yeah." I lied. I'm more apprehensive than excited. This conversation is just reminding me my dream and that's not something I find good. Sera turned to Yae after asking this.

"Yae we'll be counting on you to rack in points for us as our vanguard!" She made a fist with her right hand as she attempted to encourage our first fielder.

"O-Of course!" She said. She didn't sound too confident this time. This is weird because she's usually so self-assured. She did her best to avoid eye contact and I'm not sure if any of my teammates noticed but I could easily tell.

"Marvelous! We'll be going in an hour let's eat!" Hanada was the first to invite everyone before we all said 'let's eat'.

The dishes were surprisingly simple for this morning. Everybody had egg and bacon with some hotdogs. It made me wonder if we depleted all our supplies, now that would be troublesome. But then again it's better not to eat too much before the tournament. We can't have 'accidents' in the middle of our matches can we?

Not all of us finished at the same time. I was the first to finish, not because I was pigging out mind you, but because I'm the only one on that table who didn't ask for a second serving. After forty-five minutes everyone was finished and true enough we were prepared and left the mansion exactly at eight o'clock. We used Kanbara's van and it was only fair that she drove it since she owned it. It was the first time she was going to drive for us. The team thought it would be more relaxing than taking the train, big mistake.

"M-Marvelous, it's like I'm riding a horse in the Wild West!" Hanada commented as she hanged on for dear life. Her hands were gripping the edge of her seat and it seemed like she would need to pry it out with a spatula later on. I can't blame her though; this is the most horrible van ride I have ever experienced. All of us were bouncing on our butts while we were just normally sitting. I myself chose to sit at the very back so I can meditate but I felt the door's cold steel nearly slam against my face the moment Satomi Kanbara stepped on the gas.

"Sorry guys the road is very bumpy!" Kanbara turned to face us and apologized while driving.

"S-Satomi keep your eyes on the road!" Sera shrieked. She sounded like she didn't feel comfortable that Kanbara was turning around to talk to us while taking a busy highway and to be honest I felt the same way.

"Wahaha don't worry I know the way there perfectly." She turned to Sera who was just beside her and smiled.

"I- I don't think that's what matters!" I feel nothing but pity for our captain right now. Whatever happens here she will have to take responsibility for choosing Satomi to drive.

In front of me was another girl who decided to stay at the back, Nagi Shinmen. Her legs were shaking but her face looked as calm as the sea…

"Are you okay Nagi?" I asked. I was worried because of the massive trembling I felt underneath my feet. I looked down and saw the mat covering the van floor getting displaced thanks to Nagi's uncontrollable shaking.

"Y-Yes. I'm a descendant of a proud samurai family after all! I- I won't be deterred by something like this. Y-Yeah!" She was stuttering so much that she said that line in fifteen seconds.

"Ah! My curry bread!" Kozue who decided to have a snack in the van dropped her bread. What was she thinking? In one way I'm thankful that she did because if it went the wrong hole thanks to Kanbara's precision driving then I don't know what we would do.

It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. All of us didn't look in top shape after getting off that trap of a vehicle. I myself felt like I wanted to vomit but I couldn't see any plastic or paper bags around. The only thing worse than the feeling of sitting as a passenger while Kanbara's driving is feeling that we would experience it for the next few days more unless we hire our own driver.

"Forty-five minutes more before registration opens, you guys want to do something first?" Sera who looked least ill asked and turned to us.

"I'm good… I'll just wait inside the building." I replied. Everybody else waved their head. After that experience I'm not sure my stomach will feel right eating anything.

We happily rode on the escalator (instead of the elevator) to reach the venue of the tournament. The registration was on another room but it was only Sera and Kanbara who went there. The remaining of us decided to go in front of the watching hall were many of the teams have gathered. I saw some familiar faces; in the very left corner of the room I saw a team who had Arakawa Kei in it. What a lucky team. Before the monster that is Miyanaga Saki appeared, Arakawa Kei was known to be the second strongest mahjong player in Japan with had only Teru as her superior. She won second place in the individuals and proved her strength to everybody.

"Eh? Kyouko is that you?!" I heard someone call from behind me. It was a familiar voice.

"K-Kinue!" I responded loudly in surprise. It was Kinue Atago the little sister of my previous captain Hiroe Atago. She still had glasses, still the same hairstyle but boy did she grow her front or what? It feels like her chest size is in a whole new level since the last time I saw her. This blue haired glasses girl was wearing a red blouse with matching flare skirt.

"It has been so long! Where have you been?!" She lunged at me and embraced me tight. It's true; the only time I contacted my previous teammates was about two weeks ago to see if anyone was interested in joining our team. Other than that I've been completely isolated from them and I was even surprised that she recognized me… not that I changed much but I just thought she would've already forgotten how I looked like.

"Nowhere special." I replied with a smile. I didn't want to tell her that I've been a NEET this past two years since I was the 'hardworking' and the 'serious' one in our team before. It would be a complete one hundred and eighty degrees turn around if she finds that out.

"So you're team is joining the tournament too?"

"Well I wouldn't be here if we weren't." I replied a little sarcastically. I mean, that's already asking the obvious is it not?

"We're joining too!"

"_Obviously…_"

"Big si-… I mean the captain is already filling in our registration." She's still struggling on how she wanted to treat her big sister Hiroe. I guess as a professional she did have to call her 'captain' but I think Harue would like to be called 'oneechan' more. But that's just me.

"If you guys are joining then this competition will be tough." I replied. Harue and Kinue are very powerful players. They don't have special abilities but they are very strong. Harue's strength comes from her boundless confidence that she will win while Kinue's strength comes from the desire to please her sister.

"Yes but not because of us, look there." I followed Kinue's gesture and looked at the direction she pointed at. My eyes almost burned after I saw something incredible. In one side there was a group that stood out amongst the others. They were very familiar faces: Teru Miyanaga, Komaki Jindai, Amae Koromo, Oohoshi Awai, Toki Onjouji, Ryuuka Shimizudani and Toyone Anetai.

"What the!? What is that line up?!" I almost shouted out loud. How can a team recruit such powerful players off the bat?

"I heard some tycoon is collecting the best players in his team." Kinue sighed. She looked scared and sad.

"But, this is… this is unthinkable." No matter how rich someone is I didn't expect for anyone to be able to pull this much talent in one team. Unless of course it's the national team which will naturally select the best players but that's through rigorous competition.

"It's not of good story either. I heard Ryuumonbochi was pressured financially by that tycoon into forcing Amae to join the team." Now I know why Kinue looked sad. It was by forced recruitment. I've heard of such things before where teams would offer ludicrous amounts of money to someone just to hook them in their team and when they don't agree they do something bad to force them into submission.

"But they're lacking a piece aren't they?" I said this softly. If they wanted the best players they overlooked the best. Shouldn't the girl whose name is Miyanaga Saki be there?

"You're expecting Saki to be in that team huh?" Kinue read my mind perfectly. But in my defense everyone who knows the girl would expect her to be in that dream team.

"Isn't she?" I asked and wondered.

"Didn't you hear? After the last National High School Championships in both team and individuals that girl just disappeared." Kinue explained.

"D-Disappeared?" I asked with a shocked expression on my face.

"Yes, every team tried getting a hold of her but she just vanished. We even tried calling her house but nobody was answering. Even her father said that her daughter just took a trip after the games and never came back. There are some speculations." Kinue looked excited just gossiping with me about these things.

"Speculations like what?" I was partly interested. Speculations whether they're just rumors or not hold some truth within them.

"One is the ever popular elopement theory. Maybe she ran off with her prize money with some guy."

"No, no that's impossible." Knowing Miyanaga Saki she's not that type. Or maybe I'm just wishing that possibility to non-existence.

"The other is a darker rumor where she was invited by that team but she refused. Then she got 'taken care of' for not getting absorbed by that tycoon."

"Now that's a scary thought…" I gulped. Between the two speculations the second one is the more probable. However I have my own questions right now. If Saki was missing, then who was the girl bothering me yesterday in the park?

"We're back!" I heard another familiar voice. This time it was the voice of my captain Sera Eguchi. She and Kanbara seemed to be finished with the registration.

"Eh? Kyouko she's your captain? Sera Eguchi?!" Kinue sounded excited. I wondered if she was a fan.

"Yep." I nodded as I waved to my captain.

"Hey are you not Kinue?" Sera recognized my ex-teammate's face from my match recordings.

"Y-Yes it's nice to finally meet the Sera Eguchi of Senriyama!" Kinue looked seriously overjoyed to meet my new captain.

"I share the same feeling. The Atagos have always worried Senriyama cause they're so good!" Sera was very sincere with this. Somehow I didn't feel all too good to know that they were more worried about the Atagos sisters than the whole team itself that included me.

"Wahaha I'm seeing lots of familiar faces!"

Kanbara looked as happy as always as she spanned the room for some people she might know.

"There's Yuki Kataoka of Kiyosumi!" Kanbara pointed to her right. I saw a little creature eating tremendous amounts of Tacos. Beside that weird creature was a pink haired girl scolding her.

"That's Haramura Nodoka right?" I recognized that girl immediately. She was known to be the 'ace' of Kiyosumi before Miyanaga unleashed her true abilities. It seems the professional agrees that she's not as good as the hype the media created as she was not invited in that dream team.

"Yes, does that mean Saki is playing here too?!" Kanbara sounded more excited than scared. Then again nothing really deters this girl. I shared the same question though but I only see Nodoka and that creature in that team. Nobody else from Kiyosumi was there.

"Without Saki, those two aren't that much of a threat at all are they?" Kinue joined our conversation.

"Nah, Nodoka has her own strengths. Her ability to keep her calm against people with abilities is a major asset." Kanbara replied. I should take her word for it since she played with that girl a lot. I imagined how many training camps they probably prepared together in the times they played in the nationals.

"But with that team joining this tournament, she looks like an average player doesn't she?" Kinue turned to the monster team she pointed me to a while ago.

"Well now that we finished registration I'm giving everyone a free time. Go do anything you want for the next few minutes." It seemed that Sera noticed that some of us wanted to talk to some familiar faces. I saw Nagi run to her fellow ex-Sanomo players and the players that greeted Kozue were probably the alumni of Kentani High.

The first thing that came into my mind after she gave us the time was to look for that girl who said she'll be cheering me on today. Kinue invited me to come with her for a bit but for some reason I didn't want to see Hiroe for now. I can't face her because frankly I'm ashamed that I didn't ask to join her team. I mean she invited me immediately on the first year after we graduated but I opted to turn it down because of my own insecurities. Now that I'm back she'll probably ask me why I didn't call her up.

Because of my rather long absence from the tournaments people didn't recognize me even though I recognized them. I recognized the girl with the monocle who had the ability to seal someone's hand by looking at them. I also saw some of Kanbara's ex-teammates. From how it looks they probably haven't seen her yet. I've seen different faces and familiar faces but I have yet to see the one girl I was looking for. It took me about thirty minutes of walking around aimlessly before I decided to give up. I checked the time and it was eleven o'clock. If the announcement was right then the game won't start until late one o'clock. I supposed my other teammates would like to eat on their own as well with their ex-teammates so I decided to go down to the cafeteria.

In the cafeteria were many people. People from their own teams and people who just wanted to watch the tournaments were there. Because students from clubs weren't required to come the crowd was thinner than the High School National games. I bought curry rice and some orange juice. I didn't want to eat too much. I was thankful that despite the immense crowd there was still an empty seat beside a long table.

The curry didn't taste well. Maybe it's because I had to worry about the match later but it really tasted different. Now I wish I had someone with me.

"It's lonely eating alone isn't it?" A voice called to me before sitting down beside me.

"Not really but –y-you?!" I could not help but squeal a little bit after seeing a girl wearing a blue boy's cap. She was wearing a white dominant shirt with blue sleeves. She had short pants that extended up to four inches above her knee and her face was hidden in shadow by her cap.

"Why so surprised? I told you I'll be cheering you on for today didn't I?" She chuckled. Unlike me she only bought melon bread. It's quite a poor choice for lunch.

"Not exactly I-…!"

"Wait; don't tell me, you actually looked for me didn't you?" She asked teasingly to the point that it's almost seductive."

"What?! No! I just felt like eating alone." I lied. If it wasn't for her I would be eating with either Kinue or with Sera right now.

"I've seen the competitors." She replied and paused.

"Yeah it's going to be a tough competition." I cut her off predicting what she would say next.

"Nope, it's fucking shit." She smirked before she looked at me.

"Are you really Saki?" I narrowed my eyes to her face. I heard that the Miyanaga Saki was supposed to be really meek, gentle, clumsy and innocent but this girl in front of me is so self-assured, confident, and rather arrogant.

"Pin pon we have a winner!" She waved the plastic that contained that served as the bread's wrapping like a flag.

"Why are you not with Haramura and that glutton Capybara?" I asked.

"Them? Well they don't matter. All that matters is that this-"

She reached into my chest pocket and pulled out something. It was something hard and wooden, to my surprise it was the Popsicle stick that I had with me since I came back from the park yesterday.

"- will give you all the luck you need." She returned it to my pocket.

"How did that even-…?"

"You brought it with you, don't ask me." She shrugged. This time I couldn't tell if she was being mysterious or just being funny. This Saki really is different from what I heard.

"Saki why didn't you join that team?" I asked while I imagined the group of Teru Miyanaga I saw earlier. I'm sure they tried to recruit her. Who would not like to have the three time champion who eclipses even the great Teru? If she's not with Nodoka and that Yuki then the next possible team that she should be in is that.

"If by them you meant that team of pretentious fucks, then it's because I feel no chemistry between me and anyone there." She replied rather harshly,

"That's ironic, rumors circulated that you're Teru's little sister." I chuckled a bit. I remembered the attention that rumor received from the media. There were many who wished this to be true because of the potential drama it could've created. Imagine, what if Teru purposely allowed her team to lose because Saki is her little sister? These were some of the questions lingering in people's minds.

"Rumors are what they are, a fantasy." She replied. I'm not sure whether it was just my imagination or if she looked sad a bit back there. I so wanted to dig more into this but something told me that I shouldn't push my luck.

"Do you already have a team?" I asked. I wondered what kind of team she would join. I imagined that she already had her eyes set on Nodoka's team.

"Nope. I will join one soon, I'm just waiting for the right flag." She replied, again with a playful smirk on her face.

"The right flag?" I felt confused. I thought about emblems upon hearing the word flag. Was she that kind of a person? Would she go for a team just because it had a good emblem? For anyone asking out there our team's emblem is exactly what you think it is, nine lanterns stacked up on top of each other to make it look like an ugly centipede.

"In eroge and galge we have events called 'flags' which are moments in the game that increases the affections of the targets." She explained. I didn't know how to feel. To learn that this girl actually plays those games is a revelation of monumental proportions.

"And this is related to my question how?" I felt my eyebrows twitch. I felt like I asked the wrong thing as I saw her lean against me as she did so many times in my dreams.

"I'm doing my best to raise one target's affection as hard as I can right now." A seductive smile stopped my heart for a bit. I felt myself leaning backwards as she advanced forward.

"Y-You don't mean." My cheeks, they're all hot and fuzzy again. I know she can see this and I fear that it's only fueling her mood.

"You're blushing, did I just trigger a flag just now?" She said this as we began to breathe each other's scent. The perfume she's wearing, it's not perfume it's cologne. The main difference between the two is that cologne is mainly used by boys. Why is she wearing such a thing?

I pushed her away gently and stood up. Luckily everybody was busy with their own business to notice that. However even after I managed to pull away, her scent is making me dizzy. It felt as if I sniffed some sort of incense.

"I- I need to go." I checked my watch and used it as a reason to escape her.

"Oh? How boring… Good luck!" She waved as I left the cafeteria. On my way back I was greeted by my teammates who have already gathered. Our game was about to start in an hour and it's our last time to prepare. Somehow my cheeks still feel hot as I held a wooden Popsicle stick tightly in my right hand.


	3. Chapter 2

A Monster's Pet

* * *

AN: I LIVE! i'm not dead yet~! Wahaha!

disclaimer: I don't own any character nor do i profit from saki and her author's work

* * *

"So tell me please…" I whispered while grunting softly ever so trying my best not to shout. I was lying on my bed sideways facing away from the door.

"Yes?" She replied while sending warm breaths inside my ear lobe. It's not reaching my nose but it still felt suffocating, no not her breath but the atmosphere it was creating.

"Why are you in my room again?" My eyebrows twitched as my face got shrouded by her shadow as she leaned on top of me. Of course I was trying my best to just ignore her but as I see her shadow envelop me I couldn't help but tell her off, not that I think she would listen to me but there's always that chance that she might.

"Because the mansion had no more free room since Kaori Senou joined at the same time as I did." She replied. I still can't believe it myself that a chombo happened to me. That's something only the newbiest of the newbies commit.

"I understand that but why are you so close to me?! There's about a meter of free space on your side of the bed!" I tried my best not to shout but my voice was beginning to pick up. I felt someone's arm wrap halfway around me in a gentle yet very forceful embrace.

"I don't get what you mean, it's pretty comfortable here." I heard her say this while I felt either getting pulled closer to her or she was leaning on my back.

"Doesn't the term 'personal space' ever mean anything to you?!" I don't really get it but I'm beginning to feel a slight lump touch my back and I don't know why either but my heart is racing faster than normal right now.

"Tugs, tugs, tugs, tugs," she said this in a sort of 'rock' tone. Was she making some sort of weird hum? I would appreciate it if she didn't do it so damn close to my ears it's giving me Goosebumps. It was especially freaky to me because it reminded me of that tune used in bars as people stripped in front of a crowd to seduce them.

"What is it now?" I protested to know what foolishness she's doing now while making that beat.

"It's not me it's your heart." She said this rather seductively inside my ear.

"E-Eh?" I yelped in a soft squeaky voice. She can feel it? She can feel my heartbeat? I couldn't lie to myself to deny what she was saying.

"When I put my chest on your back like this your heart goes off that I can almost dance to the beat." She pulled me closer once again and that slight lump I felt started to carress the surface of my silk shirt and entices my back beneath it. Just imagining what those two things I feel grazing my back almost made me lose my mind.

"S-Stop it." I said this almost beggingly. Like a child being bullied by her older peers I asked for her pity. My cries fell on deaf ears as she continued to make her advances. This time I felt something perk up in front of me beneath my own clothes.

"You're excited." She said this before letting out a teasing chuckle. After that a meek squeak came from me as I denied her statement. How can I be excited when the person who traumatized me for the past few years is groping me from behind in my own room?

"Y-You're wrong, I'm not excited at all." I tried my best to keep her advances at bay but I felt my legs clumping together just to push back my feelings gushing beneath my waist. It would be troublesome if she finds out my increasingly getting wet shorts. Why is it wet? W-Well I don't know either maybe because it's the sweat since it's too hot.

"Dishonest pets are punished did you know that?" She continued. I felt her hand try to sneak in between my legs, and it would've if I didn't firmly closed them together. I simply could not allow her any access to that part or my dignity will totalled.

"I-I'm not your pet! I thought I already told you that." I wanted to shout now but if I did then I'm not sure what kind of trouble I would bring to the team. Also, I'm not sure my teammates will help me from Saki or help Saki to do me instead. They're not exactly the normal bunch; I learned that the hard way yesterday.

"Your body is telling me a different story though," this time I felt her hand pass me as I felt her lift my shirt's front. I felt her fingers touch my navel, making soft touches as it encircled that small hole where my umbilical cord used to be when I was born.

"S-Stahp…" I gasped. I felt my own muscles weaken as if my own body was just about to give up.

"Your lips are being especially dishonest today. Why don't we ask your other lips then?" This time I felt her hand intrude inside my shorts and panties from the opening below my hips. I used both of my hands to cover my mouth to prevent myself from shouting as I helplessly waited for her hand to reach that part of my body.

"Eh? Shouldn't this part be covered by hair?" She said this as she reached that part only a few inches above that special place that I was trying so hard to protect.

"W-Well I"

"Eh? Don't tell me Suehara-san is someone who likes to keep cute by shaving that part." This devil of a girl chuckled teasingly while I was about to cry as I hold her hand from above my shorts to keep her from moving further down.

"N-No stupid!" I said this aloud but yet in a whisper. I love being clean but there has never been a time when I needed to shave that place. Why? Well… for some reason it seems my growth is rather abnormal down there. While my peers have probably grown a small bush by now I have yet to see a single speck of hair on my own.

"Then it's really going to be in full view once I remove these troublesome barriers?" She asked. Thinking about it, she probably meant my shorts and my panties when she said 'barriers'.

"T-That's sexual harassment! Stop it!" I cried. I was quite sure at this point that tears were ready to flow from my eyes.

Dok, dok, dok!

"Sakehhhh, Kyouko it's time to wake up! It's going to be our first training together!" This was the voice of a very happy Sera. After this I immediately felt Saki retract her hand from inside my shorts slowly.

"_T-Thank you captain!_" I thanked my new captain from the bottom of my heart. A little more and I don't know what could've become of me right there.

"How boring…"

Even though I'm not looking at her I know Saki is frowning right now. This is the same phrase she uttered yesterday when I escaped her advances by using our match as a reason. Imagining her disappointed face makes me feel heavy for some reason but I didn't let it bother me.

"No matter, the day is just starting isn't it?" She said this with full of hope and vigor in her voice. I could not believe the persistence of this girl. Why can't she just leave me alone?

"You're the high-school national champion and three time MVP please act more responsible!" I tried lecturing her. I know this is a useless attempt but I still wanted to say what was in my mind.

Just as I was about to stand up I felt something wet and soft touch and bite gently on the nape of my neck. I squealed gently as I gasped and felt chest rise. I heard a soft clicking, no more like lapping sound at the same time and I can perfectly imagine what it was.

"You didn't think I'd just let this go without getting anything did you?" The girl behind me asked before she leaned forward and grazed my cheeks with her lips.

I felt my blood rise to my cheeks and if I looked in the mirror I would probably see my face as red as a tomato right now. What she did was more embarrassing than what she was doing a moment ago. I could still feel that wet smooch she gave me and the gentle nibble was eating through my heart and brain similarly to how my skin itched in protest for more. When she finally released me I immediately walked to the mirror and there I saw the nape of my neck the mark she gave me as her 'gift' for this morning. It was clearly visible even without the lights.

"Y-You, you, you idiot!" I cried and turned to her as she stuck out her tongue playfully.

Okay, I bet everyone is wondering what's happening. What became of the tournament? I rather not explain everything in detail because it was too embarrassing. To think the team led by Sera Eguchi would one of the first teams to drop out of the tournament is just too much. However I'm sure people will not be satisfied until they hear it so let's go back to one thirty in the afternoon the day before yesterday.

* * *

One Thirty P.M. Saturday we eagerly watched the match of our vanguard, Yae Kobashiri. The moment she sat on the table we already expected her to gather a lot of points. There are two popular strategies when it comes to team tournaments, the most popular is putting the ace in the vanguard position to gather enough points to sustain the team the rest of the way. With all the powerful aces competing, the three other teams do well not following that strategy. The other strategy was to put your ace as the general of the team. This later strategy is a 'comeback' strategy where the ace can retrieve the points her team lost from earlier matches. For our team it's unclear what strategy we followed. The battle potential of each member are not too far apart. Sure it's arguable that Sera is our ace but back yesterday I was able to top her.

"Oh it's starting." Sera eagerly watched how her chosen vanguard would do. For the first hand our Yae was seated on south. After rolling the dice, it's settled that her turn comes in second.

For the first turn her hand revealed a pair of the two of balls, a pair of the three of balls, a four of balls a five of balls, two six of balls, a seven of balls, two red dragons and an east wind tile. This is actually a good hand and it's almost complete. If she plays the hand right she could win a seven han haneman for pinfu, hon'itsu and ryan'peikou. True enough she discarded the east wind tile which served no purpose on her hand. On her second turn she managed to draw the four of balls. She had her ryan'peikou. On this turn she declared riichi.

Declaring riichi indeed increases your hand's value. However I cannot help but feel that it was rushed. She had a three way wait but it feels like she could've lured in her opponents more. On the next turn she failed to get her winning tile while her opponents were starting to catch up. Even on the fourth and fifth turn she still could not draw the tile she needed until on the sixth turn-….

"Riichi!"

-another competitor finally caught up to her and it's with a monstrous hand. It was the vanguard of East Chikuma. All characters so that would make it a chin'itsu but it was a more special hand. A quad of ones and a trio of nines with one of each tiles between one and nine that's a nightmare hand that's known as nine gates or nine lanterns. Won't it be ironic if our group would get hit by that?

The next turn proved to be a big blow for us as Yae drew the three of characters. That was the last remaining tile missing from her enemy's hand. It didn't matter now if she could feel her enemy's intentions she's obliged to throw that because she's under restrains thanks to her own riichi. I looked at the frown on her face, it was clear that she wasn't happy about discarding it, but she had no choice.

"Ron!" Exclaimed the girl from East Chikuma. In an instant, thirty-two thousand points were shaved off from us. I can hear many people laughing. For someone in a team called 'Nine Lanterns' to get hit with the yakuman hand 'Nine Lanterns' is rather comical. We consider ourselves already lucky since this 'nine gate's was a 'dirty' one and only had one sided wait. If it was a 'true nine gates' then sixty four thousand would have been taken from us in a flash.

"Crap!" Nagi Shinmen cursed. She had one hand in a fist with her teeth in tight grit. It was a very debilitating blow. She had to play after this and if Yae can't bounce back then she will have very little points to work with. For those who cannot follow the point distribution it's like this: East Chikuma who now named itself as East Chicks have the lead at one hundred and thirty-three thousand points, Tile Pushers who are dominated by Toufukuji members are at one hundred thousand points, On the Board, a seemingly new team, at a hundred thousand too and then us who were at the pitiful score of sixty-seven thousand points.

"Don't worry it's just the beginning!" Sera encouraged all of us. True, we're still only thirty-three thousand below the second place. If Yae can win consecutively we can catch up in no time.

"Ron!"

Just as I was conditioning my mind that we were still doing okay another declaration of ron erupted in the arena. This time it was from a girl wearing glasses who plays for 'Tile Pushers'. I looked at who the poor soul was. Who was the unlucky girl to get hit directly? To my surprise I saw Yae cringed as she took some point sticks in her pile and hand them over to her opponent. As I feared, it's our vanguard that got hit again. All I could do is pray that it wasn't too much.

"That would be sixty-four thousand please." The enemy revealed the amount our Yae had to pay. The hand she got caught by was a well-known hand designed to shoot down players with direct hits. It was the Kokushi Musou nope even worse it was a thirteen sided wait Kokushi Musou. Without restrictions this hand is a double Yakuman.

After only two rounds our score now is… three thousand. It's the most depressing thing I have seen. After only two turns our points have been reduced to almost nothing. Even in individual tournaments this is something almost impossible to save. This is much more troublesome in a team competition where the next teammate will have to work with the amount of points the previous hands down.

"I-It looks like I will have to work it out in my match." The girl who always carried her swords close beside her took a huge gulp down of saliva from her own mouth. She sounded pessimistic but believe me that's already optimism. If our 'bansei ace' can make it through I will already consider that a miracle.

"I- I think we made the wrong sequence here." I couldn't help but say this. At this point what we needed was Hanada Kirame's ability to ensure our safe passage to the next round, the ability to 'not be bankrupt'.

"Come to think of it… why didn't we go with that plan? Hanada-san did show that her ability was legit in all her games." Nagi Shinmen asked Sera who was on the edge of her seat as she watched our vanguard tremble.

"That would have been a more marvellous line-up." Hanada herself agreed with that supposed plan. It was only yesterday when we really decided that Yae declared that she would be the vanguard.

"Well it's because she insisted on it." Sera hesitantly pointed at the plasma-screen set to our teammate playing in the match. I gritted my teeth in a combination of both anger and disappointment. I was angry at Yae for being such a spoiled idiot and at our captain for letting that girl have her way.

"Why? I mean we all saw her performances in the nationals!" I was almost shouting at this point and I could barely maintain a calm face. I know I'm new to the team and I shouldn't say such things but I could not believe how foolish that decision was. I mean, in Himematsu I may not be the president of the club but I know that every decision we made was based on the team's overall feelings and judgement. To me this felt like we sacrificed the team just for the sake of one selfish woman's ego.

"I'm sorry Kyouko…"

Sera began talking after a short pause. It seemed to me that she regretted her decision.

"I just felt that everyone in this team must enjoy their roles. I was worried that if I insist another role on her any further then she might not perform at all." Sera explained. I imagined how the scene it might've been when Yae approached the captain for her position. I placed myself in her shoes and wondered if I could've told this stuck-up girl to stand down.

"But still I…"

"Kyouko…"

I felt a hand tap my left shoulder gently. I looked and saw that it was Kanbara, my first friend in this team.

"I think it was the right decision. If Yae quitted because we didn't give her the vanguard position then we wouldn't have made this tournament for not making the cut." Satomi Kanbara explained. It was then that I realized how much of a burden it really was for our captain to make that decision. We didn't experience this in Himematsu because we had so many club members. It must've felt like being cornered against a wall to make that decision. I realized that I was being inconsiderate to Sera; she was only doing her job for the team.

"I'm sorry president." I turned to Sera with my head bowed. In turn, Sera looked at me with a smile.

"No you're right. I was too selfish. I only wanted for our group to finally make its debut. But a debut like this is also unacceptable." She sounded contrite of her decision and I couldn't blame her. Even if we didn't make this tournament we could've still made our debut in another tournament different from this one and in a better light. This kind of performance is something sponsors would call a sign of a bad investment.

"B-But it's not yet over!" Kozue Furuzuka clenched her fists above her chest to show us her fighting spirit. Usually this is enough to revive everyone but the current situation is much direr. Four no-tens and we're basically dead.

"I'm going to go to the comfort room for a bit." I said. I didn't know what to say to my teammates to raise their hopes and I couldn't bear seeing them downhearted like that. Nobody in my team stopped me although Kozue and Nagi turned to me with a sceptical look before I left the area.

When I crossed the hall outside there were already many people loitering around. Most of them were fans of the mahjong players currently participated in the tournament. It was inevitable that I listened to some of them gossip.

"Hey! Sera Eguchi's team is really taking a beating out there." One man who looked as if he just graduated high-school softly whispered this to his friend who was standing beside him.

"Yeah, gosh they even got hit by two yakumans in a row. That's something that only happens in a manga!" The girl who replied sounded pretty happy while saying this. I felt myself angered listening to these morons but I couldn't bring myself to confront them because that would just add garbage to the already disappointing reputation we're currently showing.

I continued my way until I reached a big door. Outside this door was some sort of small balcony built to give people some fresh air. Although you can argue that it's useless since nobody really uses it. However the view it gives of the city is quite breath-taking. It didn't help to ease my mind of our current situation and it would've been a better view if it was already dark but I did feel a little refreshed as I allowed the wind to blow on my face and through my hair for a bit.

"I guess you won't be seeing me play today."

I whispered to myself before I chuckled. I remembered how she explicitly said that she was really looking forward to my debut. With what's happening right now I doubt I'll even have that chance to sit on the table. Somehow I felt sad as I imagined her disappointed look. I leaned on the balcony's marble railings as I tried to soothe myself by appreciating the city's view in the afternoon.

"In one way I guess this is good. If we lose before my turn comes, I won't have a chance to embarrass myself." I chuckled again. I was doing my best to give myself reasons not to despise Yae for her selfish attitude.

"Now we can't have that can we?"

A gentle voice replied from behind me in a playful tone. I narrowed my eyes a bit and I didn't have to ask who it was because I've been hearing that voice in my dreams and everywhere since yesterday. I didn't bother myself to turn and meet her since she joined me and leaned forward on the railings herself.

"A chance to see you embarrassed in front of thousands of expectators is something I cannot allow to pass." The girl who began to accompany me sounded teasingly playful but also annoyed in a way.

"There's something seriously wrong with you." I turned beside me to give her that awkward look as I examined her face. She met my eyes rather sheepishly.

"You, striving your best to get close to me, ah those were the days." She smiled and sighed as if she was a reminiscing nun in an isolated cathedral.

"Okay, first and foremost I was trying my best to get close to you on points!"

I emphasized 'on points' by saying it aloud.

"Second, please don't say things like that in that weird perverted tone. People will misunderstand." I closed my eyes and sighed. I can imagine how people would begin to talk behind our backs if ever they heard this girl say one of her lines to me.

"Misunderstand how exactly?" She titled her head as she asked me something that I thought would already be obvious.

"I don't want people thinking that we're actually lovers." I decided to be blunt. If I didn't, this girl would probably just make fun of me.

"They wouldn't misunderstand it then."

"You…" I already had a fist prepared to bash her face in for that.

"In any case, shouldn't you prepare for your game?" This question boggled me. I don't want to be Miss Pessimistic but on how it's going I doubt I need to worry about my game.

"Didn't you just see what happened back there?" I asked sarcastically while pointing behind me with my thumb.

"Yeah, some idiot got hit by two yakumans in a row, so what?" She replied like it was something absolutely normal. Well this is the monster who swept the high-school division with ease so I guess she has the authority to say something so arrogant.

"Last time I checked we only had three thousand points left. Even if by some miraculous way she manages not to get driven down to negative we still have… w-wait…" As I said the word miracle something popped in my mind. The term miracle is something not new to the person I'm talking to. I turned my head slowly back to her only to see her playfully grinning at me.

"What? Is there something on my face?" She asked with a smirk. Once again I ask myself if this was the Miyanaga Saki who was supposed to be shy and innocent. Is she only like this towards me?

"N-Never mind."

I imagined my suspicions away. She was able to manipulate my score in my matches before but it's foolishness to think that she can do the same thing in a different match she's not playing in while being so far away from the players.

"Can you tell me again why the most powerful mahjong player up to date is not in a team?" I remembered our conversation from before. I couldn't believe that she wasn't a part of any team. I mean, I can only think that she was teasing me again by lying and then surprise me later by defeating me in a another captain's match.

"I can tell that you think I'm lying." Bull's-eye! I turned my head away from her to avoid eye contact.

"I just don't understand how come you're not with Haramura in a team." I replied and imagined how close Nodoka and Saki looked three years ago. They looked very inseparable that it's almost a no brainer to think that they would be in the same team for the pro-leagues.

"Oh? Are you so much captivated by me that you want to see me play already?" She walked in front of me and followed where I turned my head as if she was forcing herself in my field of vision. Was she only trying to get a reaction from me? Is it why she says these embarrassing things?

"Please don't add such useless meanings in my words." I felt my cheeks get a little hot. This girl is little by little figuring out how to push my buttons.

"Whatever happens in this tournament I will be joining a team directly after it." She replied after a soft chuckle. After this tournament? Is she here actually here to look for suitable teams? If that's the case then it's that monster team that's most appropriate. I'm talking about the team of monsters with Miyanaga Teru at its front.

"Nope, it's definitely not that team." She said this with a proud yet carefree smile.

"Please stop reading my mind." I requested in an annoyed voice. I couldn't tell if she was really getting in my mind or if I was just a really easy girl to read. I was never the girl who had the perfect poker face. I am thankful that in mahjong having a cold face isn't a requirement or I might not have made it at all.

"The match should be over by now. Your team will be looking for you." She said this out of the blue. Did she have a timer set for the match? Or was she just guessing? I noticed that the sky has changed its colour a bit which means time indeed passed. I don't know why, but time seems to pass quicker whenever I'm talking to this girl.

"You're right… besides it's pretty disrespectful to be here while my teammates pull their hair out from watching that massacre." I nodded. I was pretty thankful that she reminded me… not. Now I feel disgusted again that I have to see my team's disappointed faces.

Every step I took leading back to the room our team was given for preparations was very heavy. It almost felt like the ground itself was absorbing bits of my energy until I'm too exhausted to move. Upon arriving there I saw a girl with two kodachis waiting outside the room's door.

"Nagi, going somewhere?" I waved to Nagi. She was supposed to be the team's sergeant.

"Suehara-san!" Nagi ran up to me then jumped unto me like a koala to a tree.

"S-Shinmen-san is there a problem?" At first I thought that she was about to cry before telling me the bad news. Of course I was already expecting that someone would tell on how Yae got hit by another yakuman effectively ending the match. However as I examined Nagi's face more I realized that she wasn't crying or lonely at all. In fact she had a huge smile on her face.

"Yae pushed through for us! We're not leaving the competition just yet!" Nagi sounded really happy as she reported this to me.

"Eh? She scored huge hands and got us back into the running?!" I felt excited for once today. I can feel my lips slowly turn into a smile hoping that Yae scored a yakuman of her own to give us more points.

"Nope, she did not win a hand at all." Nagi replied while waving her head in a no gesture.

"E-Eh?!" I was surprised. How exactly did she survive without scoring a single hand… and why am I supposed to be happy about this?!

"For some reason the three other competitors did not score anymore as well. That last hand that Yae was hit by was surprisingly the last hand to be won by any of the players in that match." Nagi explained this to me with a weird smile on her face. I could tell that she was perplexed about what happened.

"Then our score is…"

"That's the funny thing. Yae couldn't win a hand but she was always in tempai. Now we have eleven thousand points!" I could not imagine what Nagi just explained to me. If what she said was true, then at some point in time Yae was in tempai eight times in a row.

"Gosh… now I wish I was there to watch…" For some reason I kind of regretted going to the balcony.

"Suehara-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Who's that?" Nagi asked and pointed past me.

"Eh?" I turned behind me and saw a girl wearing her boy's cap so far down her face that her eyes was literally hidden from sight.

"Hi there I-...!"

"T-This girl is just a friend! Please don't mind her." I replied for Saki before this troublesome girl could say something I would regret.

"A friend? Is she competing too?" Nagi asked. It was natural I guess that she would think that this girl is also a mahjong player.

"N-No I…"

"I'm Kyouko-san's girlfriend." My heart skipped a beat after I heard this coming from behind me.

"E-Eh?!" Nagi squealed. It was a similar squeal you hear every time you go to a concert and girls see their most admired band member on the stage.

"D-Don't listen to her Nagi she's just being random." I went in between the two while flailing my arms and hands in front of like I was making a small barrier around me. This isn't the worst case scenario that I have been replaying in my mind but it sure is close to turning into it.

"S-Suehara-san I didn't know that you were in to girls." Nagi said this while avoiding eye-contact with me with her face lighted pink.

"Shinmen-sannn!" I was almost in the verge of tears while trying my best to convince my teammate otherwise. At that point I only hoped that Nagi wasn't the kind who loved talking to others about the latest gossips.

"You're Nagi Shinmen right?" Once again the girl behind me interrupted me before I could say anything more. Come to think of it I haven't properly introduced them to each other. I don't have the slightest bit of idea how to introduce the girl behind me. I didn't know if telling Nagi that this girl who claimed to be my lover's name was Saki would be a good thing.

"Y-Yes. You know about me?" Nagi had a smile on her face. It seemed that she was honoured to have someone know her who was outside of the mahjong world.

"Yes of course. Nagi-san is the cute girl who wears kodachis going to a game. She's really quite cool. Like a modern mahjong samurai." I don't know why but hearing Saki say these words of praise to someone she just met is a little annoying.

"I-I'm not cute or cool at all." Nagi replied shyly. This one was even more upsetting than hearing Saki flirt. I guess seeing people act this way just gets on my nerves. I mean, why else would I feel irritated seeing Saki and Nagi like this?

"Now, now, aren't you going to be late for the match Nagi?" I asked. For every match there's at least a thirty minute break time before the next match starts. I thought that we've probably been talking mindlessly for at least fifteen minutes now. My main concern is to have her disappear from the scene before everything escalates.

"O-Oh yes, sorry, I'll go now!" Nagi bowed in front of us before dashing away.

"Will she be alright?" I asked myself as I watched my teammate disappear through the corridor leading to the playing area.

"Suehara-san you're back! Wahaha we made it through!" Some other's voice interrupted me from imagining Nagi's flustered face as she goes in the playing area.

It was easy for me to deduce that it was Satomi Kanbara who just went out of the waiting room to greet me.

"Ah! Satomi! T-This girl is-…" The first thing I had in mind was to pre-emptively introduce Saki before she could say anything misleading while I gestured beside me.

"Huh? What girl?" Satomi tilted her head curiously looking at me.

"Eh?"

I turned to my left only to see that there was no one beside me.

"S-She ran away!" I squealed. Not that I mind. In fact I am more thankful that she disappeared before Satomi could see her. But I have this feeling I will see her again in the very near future.

"Who?" Kanbara still had that inquisitive look. What's weird is that she could look at me with it while having that staple smile she sported.

"N-Nobody l-let's go in, I still have yet to congratulate Yae for making it through." I gently had Satomi turn away from me as I pushed her gently back inside the room by her shoulders.

"Eh? Did I miss anything?" Satomi asked as we entered the room.

Inside the room everyone was happy. Sera had a big smile of relief on her face. I checked our match's scoreboard and it was still a depressing sight. The first place was at one hundred and fifty-four thousand, the second place was at one hundred and twenty-four thousand, the third place was at eighty-nine thousand and there's us at eleven thousand.

"So nobody really scored after that." I had a weird smile on my face. I could not help but think that this is someone's doing, no not Yae, someone who has been stalking me.

"It's time to counter attack!" Sera looked at me with a spirited look in her eyes. I can tell that her resolve has returned because after all even though we're behind by that much we have a better chance now than we had when we were stuck at 'zero'.

"Yae, good job hanging in there." I turned to Yae who was sitting silently in one corner of the room. I could tell that she wasn't happy with the result. After all what's there really to be happy about? She got hit by a double yakuman in the get go and a yakuman in the second.

"Don't patronize me." She said this looking angrily at me. I guess from her point-of-view I was patronizing her. But in reality I am being sincere… although I don't really believe that it was with Yae's power was she able to hang on.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I scratched my head and sat beside her. I wanted to apologize more because it was I who doubted her the most. I felt guilty that I was sure we'd be packing at the same time Yae left the playing area.

"It was strange… every last draw I get the tile I need to be in tempai…" She said this with painful expression.

"What do you mean?" I did not fully understand what she meant. I couldn't tell if it's how she phrased it or if I'm not just getting at the core of what she was trying to say.

"Didn't you watch my game?!"

"Uh o-of course I did. Ahaha." This is a lie of course. I don't know what she will do to me if I dared to tell her that I baled on observing her extremely depressing game.

"I did get tempai in most of my hands but I only got there every time it's my final chance to draw." She explained. It was clearer to me now but since I didn't watch her game I could only imagine what happened.

"Only get to tempai in the last turn?" I repeated what she said. I had my thumb on my chin as I remembered something similar to it. If I remember correctly, it was on my last year of playing for Himematsu in the nationals where I can only win in the final turn. That happened a few times in a row and in all of those games the girl who calls herself Miyanaga Saki was my opponent.

"I couldn't win a hand at all…" Yae looked like she was about to cry at any moment. If you think about it, she has a very valid point. To some onlooker's point-of-view it looked incredible to see someone always get to tempai. However, even if she would always get it, if she can only get to it in her final draw then her chances of winning a hand is exactly at zero. If this is an innate ability that she just awakened then I hope she puts it to sleep fast because it's really extremely useless.

"There, there it's not good to dwell on something like this while one of our teammates is out there fighting for us. Let's cheer on her shall we?" Sera noticed the gloomy atmosphere we were beginning to generate and immediately changed the topic.

"Yes! Go, go Nagi-chan!" Kozue cheered.

"Y-yeah, go!" I tried to act enthusiastically and I really am. But it's just unbelievable that she will hear me cheering for her all the way here from the playing area.

* * *

Together, I and the rest of the team watched Nagi's match. Unlike Yae, she performed extremely well. In the first turn she was able to score a non-dealer san'baiman and gave our team twenty-five thousand points. It was a direct hit at the second place at that time. That wasn't even Nagi's shining moment in that match, like a true samurai she steadily cut down the points of our foes until the second place was already in firing distance. Before the match recess, she scored a dealer haneman which allowed us to finally over take the second place. In the end of the first half of her match the allocations were: one hundred and twenty-two thousand points for the team in front, we're at their back at eighty-one thousand points and the teams we overtook not far from each other at seventy-five thousand and sixty-four thousand.

"Marvellous! Nagi's in a roll!" Hanada Kirame had a wide smile on her face… not that it's unusual but she really sincerely sounded jubilant for Nagi. She's playing after Nagi Shinmen so I guess it's understandable that she's the most happy about this.

"If she can continue on her pace she might just get first place for us!" Sera said this in her usual Kansai accent.

Unfortunately Sera's words did not come true. In the second half the first place scored a non-dealer haneman while another team scored a dealer baiman. The last hand won was by our very own Nagi Shinmen which was a dealer San'baiman: thirty-two thousand points. So now the points are one hundred and twenty-six thousand for the first place, us with one hundred and three thousand points and the other two teams with seventy thousand and fifty-two thousand points. It was ironic to see the previous second place in the match so far behind at fifty-two thousand but it's probably because their current player isn't the strongest in their team. If we're lucky their best player was probably the girl who scored the first yakuman against Yae on the vanguard's match. If that's true then we only have two other teams to really worry about.

Next up for our team was Hanada Kirame. Her ability is something we hope not to use in this point of the game. Her ability to 'not be bankrupt' is a lifeline but also quite depressing to see used in a game. We're already in firing range from the first place; hopefully Hanada can step up her game and leap over her opponent. I escorted Kirame outside the room and there we met Nagi on the way to the playing area.

"You were marvellous!" Hanada praised Nagi as they met each other outside the room.

"No, the enemies this time were weak." Nagi disappointedly closed her eyes. Despite her success I can tell that she was not contented with what she got.

"I suppose they played their hands on the vanguard's match." What I meant by this is that all the enemy teams must've placed their aces in the vanguard's position if Nagi was right about everyone in her match being trash.

"I didn't feel fulfilled at all." She sighed. I don't really understand how she felt. After that intense depression and despair we had after watching Yae lose so many points she should really be happy that she was able to score over a hundred thousand points and get us back into the running.

"Let's just be thankful that we have a better chance of winning this shall we?" I scratched the back of my head.

"W-Where's she?" Nagi started looking around us and even moved me gently to see what's behind me.

"Where's who?" Hanada who still hasn't gone to the playing area asked wondering.

"Suehara-san's girlfriend." Nagi replied. My eyes opened wide in shock. This is something I don't want anyone to spread about me. I wanted to squeal but my throat became so stiff that nothing came out of my mouth but a soft whimper.

"E-Eh? That's marvellous Suehara-san! You brought a lover? A-And a girl even?" For the first time ever I heard Hanada sound in a different tone other than 'happy'. She sounded unsure and troubled even while she masks it with her trademark smile.

"D-Don't listen to her I have no girlfriend!" Once again I flung my arms around tirelessly as I failed miserably to change their opinion of me.

"It's okay Kyouko; girl to girl relationships are marvellous!" Hanada flashed me a thumbs up. She was trying to root for me and cheer me up but that's something I didn't want happening either.

"I'm telling you that you're misunderstanding everything!" The only thing keeping me from breaking down into tears right now is the thought of getting into my match later on with swollen eyes.

"Marvellous! I shall dedicate this match to your love then Suehara-san!" Once again Hanada flashed me a smirk and a thumbs up before finally disappearing into the corridors.

"… Geez Nagi why did you have to say something so unnecessary!" I cried after I turned to Nagi who was looking at me innocently.

"Eh? But I thought you wanted your relationship known to everyone since she was so straightforward in telling me that information a while ago." She replied.

"Didn't you just hear me squeal in despair back then?" I reminded her how much I denied that girl's statement before. Sometimes I'm not sure if this teammate of mine is mentally impaired.

"Eh? So you're really not going out with her?" Nagi asked.

"As I said before… she was just playing!" I persisted. I hoped that this time she would finally understand.

"I-If that's the case then maybe I can… with her umm…" Nagi turned her face away from me as she placed one hand on her lips to muffle her voice.

"Maybe you can what?! And why are you posing so shy with a flustered face?!" I recognized the pose she was unconsciously portraying and it's the pose a girl in love does every time she thinks of her 'target of affection' in romantic movies.

"Why are you guys so noisy out there?! Hanada's match is about to start let's watch inside." Sera opened the door and invited us in.

"Wahaha Nagi! You were so amazing!" Kanbara welcomed and praised Nagi as we entered the room. I was wearing a weird face which I hoped nobody noticed. I couldn't help but think something troublesome just started inside Nagi. Also, for some reason I felt my heart tighten but I couldn't properly explain it.

"Hanada-san is stronger than me in practice matches and she did make it farther in the national tournament than me so we should be fine now." I can feel the confidence in Nagi's voice. However when I tried to make eye contact with her she suddenly averted her gaze.

After putting the awkward atmosphere between me and Nagi aside I decided to concentrate on Hanada's match. Their game didn't start until after twenty more minutes. When it did start the pace of the game was horribly slow and none of the players could get to tempai.

"Wahaha I guess there are times when none in the game can get a good break huh?" It was the second hand when Satomi said this. She was absolutely right about this. It doesn't mean that someone needs to get lucky and win in a mahjong match; sometimes the tiles are just so shy to come out for everyone.

"Oh look it looks like Kirame-san has finally a good hand." Nagi pointed at the screen just as the cameras took a close up of everyone's hands.

Her hand was composed of a three of characters, a four of characters, two nines of balls, three red dragons, three east winds and three south winds. She only needed a two or a five to finish her straight and complete her hand.

"That girl from 'Wood Pushers' has three of the five of characters though." I noticed the hand of one of her enemies. This means that she only had five more tiles that she can draw to give her the win.

One of the players in the table just drew one of the two of characters that Hanada needed. It was a big disappointment for us who were watching the fight. Now Kirame only had four outs left before her hand loses its value. If Hanada wins this hand it will be a baiman and if we're lucky we can overtake the first place in one go.

Immediately after Hanada discards the tile she drew, the girl after her drew the tile she needed. Time stopped as we waited for what that girl would do. When we looked at her hand that girl may form a small straight using that tile but it would mean that she would be opting for a longer wait. We looked at the girl's expression, at first she was smiling as she prods the tile between the other two tiles on her left. Then after a short pause she discarded it.

"Ron!" We heard Hanada claim that tile through the little speakers in the room. It was a direct dealer baiman and the victim was the first place holder. That girl was punished with a sixteen thousand points deficit. With that we finally managed to overtake the leader by nine points; the score now is: one hundred nineteen thousand points for us with one hundred ten thousand points for the team in second place while the other teams points remained unchanged.

"I told you Hanada-san will come through for us!" Nagi felt rather proud for predicting how Kirame will perform. However I can't help but think that we're getting ahead of ourselves. It was just one hand; the game was still far from over.

I regretted having those pessimistic thoughts, not because I was proven wrong, but because my worries were proven to be right. That baiman was the only hand she scored for the first half of the match. I may sound like it but it isn't really so bad. At least we didn't get as many points shaved off than the other teams. All of a sudden the team which was lying in last place scored a non-dealer haneman. Hanada wasn't in dealer's position that time so she didn't need to pay the lion's share. Because of that two teams in the bottom shared the same score which was immediately broken after one of them scored a mangan. It was a direct hit to the second place at that time.

"Wahaha, she's not getting anything at all." Kanbara commented. She was correct. It wasn't Hanada's fault at all; she's simply not getting any luck with her draws. I only know a few monsters who could care less about draws.

In the second half, Hanada scored an eighty fu four han hand in east position which forced all her enemies to pay four thousand points each. It wasn't much but it's high enough to keep us in front. The final scores after some exchanges between the other players are: one hundred and seventy-two thousand points for us, eighty-nine thousand and four hundred points for the team directly behind us, seventy-one thousand and three hundred for the third place and sixty-three thousand and one hundred points for the current team in the last place. Even though Hanada did not add much to our point's pool she did a pretty god job defending them. She managed to dodge direct hits and did not get hit by a tsumo much either.

"It's my turn next!" Sera Eguchi, our captain finally stood up from her seat. She hasn't done so since our match started. I don't know how she did it for a few hours but she hasn't rested her butt from sitting down and kept her eyes glued on the game monitor. I suppose she felt responsible for her team and didn't want to show us her anxiety by sitting down.

"Take care out there pres." I was the first to wish her good luck. If my estimate is correct, then Sera Eguchi is probably the strongest in our team overall. It's not that I don't have confidence in myself but unlike me her performance is more consistent.

"Um!" She nodded. She had a confident smile on her face which says a lot.

"Show them what the star of Senriyama can do wahaha." Kanbara added.

"Ha-ha that's not right, I'm not a part of Senriyama anymore. Have you forgotten the name of our team?" Sera looked at each of us in the eyes before we all exchange smirks.

"We're the Nine Lanterns!" We spiritfully shouted. Since I've joined this team Sera always did seem to be proud of the team she made and the name that she gave it. I can't help to wonder why it's 'Nine Lanterns' though, we're only seven…

I'm not sure if this is going to be a team tradition, but like how it was with Nagi and Hanada, I was the one who escorted Sera out of the room and met Hanada along the way.

"Did I miss anything marvellous while I was gone?" Hanada asked. She asked this probably because we looked chipper.

"You missed watching yourself do marvellously." I replied. I tried using her trademark word but I have to admit that it doesn't sound as good for me compared to when she uses it.

"You're just saying that, I didn't score much at all." This is the first time I saw Hanada Kirame's shy and humble side as she scratched the back of her head with rosy cheeks.

I smiled as I walk to her before I realized that I haven't gone to the bathroom since we arrived. I could hold out more but I didn't want to wait for the 'point of no return' when I'm already sitting on the table where leaving isn't allowed.

"S-Sorry I need to go to the bathroom. How is the president doing?" I asked Hanada before I gestured to leave for the comfort rooms.

As I expected, there were no people in the room. I believed most were busy watching their teammates play in their respective waiting-rooms so I wasn't surprised not to see anyone around. There were also very few people I saw on the way there. They didn't recognize me so I didn't bother striking conversations with them even though I recognized some of them. After doing my business I made sure that my hands were clean and that there was nothing on me that would give the team a bad name when I face the cameras later. I looked at myself in the mirror where I saw a pathetic girl trying her best to look confident even though she's very nervous for her upcoming debut right after her President Sera's battle. After fixing myself, tucking in my dress and making sure that there were no unwanted smears or whatsoever I decided to hurry back but just before I could get out of the comfort room I happened to stumble on an unexpected situation.

Past the toilet room door was the girl who seemed to love stalking me for some reason. At first I wanted to hide because I was sure she was after me again but as I looked at her closely she wasn't paying attention to me. Instead, her eyes were lazily fixed on the girl in front of her as she condescendingly looked at her with her arms folded on her chest.

"I thought I felt something different in here. So, you're alive." These rather frightening words came from the blonde girl in front of the tomboyish girl with a boy's cap. I looked at that girl and was startled. That girl was also very familiar to me because she was also an opponent in my very last match in my high-school career in the nationals as a Himematsu Mahjong Club Member. It was no other than Oohoshi Awaii, the so called 'next Teru'. I remember how powerful she was and if it wasn't for Miyanaga Saki she would've taken that match by a landslide. Right now she's facing the one person who managed to destroy her every year.

"You sound disappointed, it was very nice of your boss to send me friends after I rejected his offer." Miyanaga Saki replied. It was then that I felt that I was listening to something gravely serious. I deduced that the 'boss' Saki mentioned was the owner of the team Oohoshi Awaii and Teru were in. It was the team that was rumoured to collect powerful mahjong monsters using dark means.

"That's not true I'm just surprised. I was crying when I heard that the boss sent a gang of thugs after you." Awaii sounded sincerely lonely when she said this but I wasn't one to judge if she was. From how I hear it, it sounds like they were previously friends before something happened that separated them.

"He didn't seem to like me turning down his invitation." Saki chuckled as she nodded her head.

"You shouldn't have turned the offer down in the first place. We could've been all together again. You, me and Teru onee-sama." Awaii was farther from me than Saki so I could only barely make out the expression on her face but she sounded disappointed. Also this statement from her proved my suspicion that the three of them knew each other before.

"Hmm? Is that a sense of longing from your voice that I hear?" Saki replied rather teasingly. I felt my lips turn into a frown. Is she always like this to every girl she meets? Wait, why do I sound jealous? I-it's probably this atmosphere.

"Don't tell me you're in this tournament too." Awaii asked rather anxiously.

"Sorry to disappoint you but nope, no I'm not." Saki waved her head in a no gesture.

"Then why are you here? Wait! Perhaps it's because you finally decided to join Teru and me?" This time, Awaii sounded happy and excited. Could it be that this girl sincerely wanted Saki to join their team?

"That's a good thought… but…"

Saki extended that 'but' syllable as she allowed Awaii to walk closer to her.

"No." She finally gave her reply. She did tell me before that she had no intention of joining the dream team that tycoon started creating. Now that a familiar face and an actual member invited her I expected that she would have a different answer but surprisingly she was quite adamant on not joining that team.

"Why not Saki-chan? Don't you want us three to be together again? It will be just like the old times; you, me and Teru-oneesama." I saw Awaii encircle Saki and put her arms around the waist of the girl with the boy's cap. She rested her chin on that girl's shoulder as an old friend would.

"That would be nice…" Saki looked like she was considering the idea for a moment after I saw her flash Awaii a gentle smile.

"Yes wouldn't it?" Awaii returned that smile and nodded.

"But at the same time, it's also impossible." Saki said this quickly as if she already planned on saying this beforehand.

"Why not?" Awaii reluctantly stepped back as Saki rejected her advances.

"You see me and Teru are not exactly complementing ingredients in a team." Saki started to explain and for the first time in this conversation she removed her hands from her chest and folded them above her head instead.

"What? That's impossible. You and Teru are… Wait… you don't mean you're still angry at Teru onee-sama for what happened last six years?" Awaii gasped.

"Six years? Has it been that long already?" Saki looked rather lost. It was as if she was surprised about how fast time was moving for some reason. Good for her… it went rather slow for me…

"Saki-chan please forget about the past and come to us! We need you! Teru-san needs you!" Awaii continued to encourage her counterpart. Listening to this conversation felt a little awkward. I feel like I was listening to Saki's secrets and I should feel bad for this but for some reason I felt rather honoured.

"Oohoshi, for six years we didn't give a damn about each other. I'm not exactly sure a year more would make any difference. And the year after that would be the same and so will be the next fifty or sixty years of our lives and then we die." Saki replied with an uncaring tone of voice.

"Don't be like that Saki-chan I'm sure Teru…"

"I'm glad the two of you have become close enough to speak in behalf of each other." Saki interrupted Awaii before the blonde could continue

"Saki…" I heard Awaii's trembling voice. She sounded like she was crying a bit. I didn't fathom a girl of Oohoshi's calibre could shed tears in front of someone. I always saw her as the tough and cool type almost like Teru.

"Awaii! Where are you? The captain is looking for you!" A voice that I heard for the first time interrupted their conversation. It was coming from the same direction Awaii Oohoshi came from. It was a little girl wearing red bunny ears who was looking for Awaii.

"Amae-san!" It seems that even Awaii looked surprise to see her teammate there.

"Oohoshi, Teru is looking for you. It's almost your turn to play are you ready?" The girl in bunny ears asked cheerfully. From what Awaii said earlier I recognized that this girl was Amae Koromo. We didn't have a chance to play with them before in Himematsu because Ryuumonbochi was eliminated in the nationals before we could play with each other and they never made it back again in the following years because of Kiyosumi.

"I'll be there." Awaii nodded. She seemed like she wanted to stay there some more to talk to the girl in front of her who was stubbornly refusing her invitations.

"Eh? Who is this?" Koromo finally noticed the other person present with them and turned to her direction. I thought that because they have been together as rivals in the same prefecture for so long that she would recognize who it was immediately. But probably because of the boy's cap and how low it was pulled down her face Koromo didn't recognize who it was.

"It's nobody." Oohoshi tried to keep Koromo's attention away from the other girl but it was too late. Koromo was now intently looking at the other girl in that hall.

"Are you bullying Awaii?" The girl with the loli body asked with a sharp look on her face. I expected Saki to give another witty comeback as she usually does but instead she just smiled as she looked down on the girl. Koromo probably noticed the little trickles of tears that uncontrollably rolled down on Awaii's cheeks a moment ago and those are probably why she asked this.

"Koromo-chan let's go." Awaii tried to pull Amae away.

"Don't call me Koromo-chan I'm older than you!"

I was surprised to hear this. I didn't expect someone who looks like she was still in middle school to be older than Oohoshi Awaii. Wait, that meant that we were probably of the same age? Not that it matters… what's going to happen?

"And you, I won't forgive you if you're bullying my teammate. I will show peasants like you true despair!" As Koromo said this I felt an incredibly oppressing intent burst out from her radiating outwards towards Saki. I, who was still hiding inside the comfort-room behind Saki, felt it too and I could only imagine how much more pressure Saki should be feeling since she's probably the direct target of this attack. I was all too familiar with this kind of pressure. This was similar to how I first felt when I met Saki in the mahjong table. The goddess vessels of that miko team also made me feel this sensation but not as intense as Saki's or this girl's. What's different I guess is that Saki was unconsciously radiating that aura while this girl was purposely sending it to what she perceived to be her opponent.

The aura was so oppressive that I almost felt like hurling. I wanted to vomit everything I ate this morning. However even though I was holding my stomach I made sure that my eyes were fixated on Saki. I saw for a moment her head turn towards my direction. For a friction of a second her eyes panned to me as if she always knew that I was there. I don't know if it was just me but for a second there I thought her eyes looked concerned as she glanced at me. Then by merely lifting up her cap's visor at Amae the shorter girl doubled back and that oppressive feeling left me.

"Y-You-…!" Amae looked displeased and surprised. Her face looked stunned and she almost fell back if not for Awaii who caught her from behind. From Amae's reaction I could only tell that Saki probably did something to return that pressure to Koromo. However I did not know how she did it because all I saw her do was push her visor up a bit.

"K-Koromo are you alright?" Awaii looked worried for Koromo. She probably knows better than me about what happened. After all, I sensed similar feelings from her in our battle before comparable to that of what happened just now.

"What are you two doing?" A new voice interrupted them. This time I wasn't familiar of the voice but upon seeing the silhouette of the owner I immediately knew who it was. Pink hair and a face similar to that of the high-school champion, it was no other than Miyanaga Teru.

"C-captain!" Awaii once again looked surprised to see another one from their team arrive on the scene. This time it's their ace, the rumoured strongest and from what I understand also the big sister of who I perceive to be the most powerful mahjong player there is.

"Awaii your game is going to start in ten minutes go prepare."

The more mature woman reminded her teammate before she glanced at what's in front of her.

"Take Koromo with you to the waiting room then proceed immediately to the playing area. We don't want the boss to be angry by being late. He'll say that we're making him look bad in front of the sponsors." Teru gestured to the direction of their room. Amae was reluctant to follow Awaii but she was dragged along. Only Teru and Saki were left standing in the hallway.

I felt my heartbeat race a bit. Teru and Saki, in one place, facing each other, not in a mahjong match but facing each other anyway, I was anxious about what will happen.

"You have to forgive my teammates the situation we are in is rather stressful for them." Teru sounded apologetic. I felt sad watching her. The great Teru who walked proudly in high-school looked degraded for some reason. If it's true that the owner of the team whom they call 'boss' are using dark means to keep his members in check then it's a no brainer why she looks so down. Furthermore it appears that she recognized who it was she was talking to.

"No harm done."

Saki replied with a nod. She sounded more polite than she usually was but still not the rumoured innocent and naïve little angel that she was supposed to be.

"Well aren't you going to check on your teammates?" I also noticed that Teru wasn't following Amae and Awaii who already disappeared from the scene.

"When it comes to mahjong I trust my current teammates. I don't think I need to worry about them." Teru waved her head. I understood what she meant. I mean, their dream team is something only veteran professionals would manage to match. Against fledging professional teams they were sure to steamroll their way through the opposition match by match.

"So you say… well what is it?" Saki suddenly fired a question.

"What is what?" Teru tilted her head and acted confused. Is she joking? Or was she sincerely not aware what Saki's question meant?

"If you're willing to waste your time standing in a hall like this you must have something in your mind." Saki replied. She was right. Looking at Teru it was clear that she had her intentions for staying here. I was starting to really look forward to their conversation.

"I'm just surprised that you're not a ghost yet." Teru replied pertaining probably to that talk about armed thugs Awaii mentioned a while ago.

"Well you sound happy." Once again I heard Saki chuckle. I saw for myself that she was right, Teru was even smiling. It was the first time I saw Teru genuinely smile because in all of those advertisements that she was hired for, her smile looked so fake.

"Isn't it normal?"

"Is what normal?" This time it was Saki who returned a question in an awkward manner. These two are really alike. Now I can see why people would call them sisters.

"That I'm happy to see my little sister alive?" Swoosh, swash! These sounds were never heard but in my mind I imagined a small explosion after Teru just said that. So it's all true! Saki really is Teru's little sister! I could feel my heart thumping louder as I got pulled deeper into their conversation. It's too bad that I had to be hiding inside this washroom like a stalker because I surely would love some popcorn while listening to these two.

"Ahaha are you?" Saki laughed rather menacingly before she raised her hand to her face and covered its entirety with her palm and fingers without covering her eyes as she looked at her older sister. It was as if she was using her hand as some sort of mask.

"Saki… I…"

"Spare me the bullshit Miyanaga Teru!" This was the first time I heard Saki shout cutting Teru. The words she used were harsh but she didn't sound angry, but rather impatient.

Both of them paused for a few seconds. Saki was focused on Teru's face like a lion fixated on its prey while Teru's eyes were somewhat meeker.

"You… you really changed." Teru was the first to break the silence. I can see her point. Miyanaga Saki indeed has changed a lot since she first played Mahjong. I watched her replay matches in both individual and team tournaments and from there I can say that it was a total transformation. Not only did she become infinitely better than what she once was but her attitude took a total dive.

"This coming from the girl who caused it all." Saki's tone was sarcastic. I realized then that Teru had a big part on influencing Saki. What happened back then? I really want to know. Hopefully no one comes in this washroom to see me eavesdropping on these two.

"You're right; I shouldn't have the right to say that." I saw Teru smile. It was a smile painful to watch. A smile should have happy implications behind it but all I could sense from hers were regret.

"If you're here to convince me to join your team then I would repeat what I said to Awaii a while ago." Saki pre-emptively declined Teru's possible offer before Teru could even start.

"No, heavens no. I'm glad you didn't accept that offer actually. Whatever you do, don't get involved with our boss." Teru waved her head in a no gesture. This was a big surprise to hear. While her other teammates were desperately encouraging Saki to join them the ace herself feels different.

"I don't plan to." Saki nodded in reply. After this, I saw Teru turn her back from her little sister while waving behind her with two fingers raised.

"I'll see you when you join a team then." These were the last words I heard Teru utter before she disappeared in the corridor that led to their waiting room.

I turned my attention to Saki who stood still near the washroom I was in. As she turned and walked toward my direction I slid quietly behind a wall hoping that she won't notice or find me.

"A certain pet better come out of hiding now before I make her regret ever eavesdropping in front of a million people." Her threat gave me chills because I know she would really do it. That time I didn't mind that she called me 'pet' rather I was too scared that she'd do something to me in this place filled with many competitors that will scar me for life. I immediately went out and bowed low in front of her.

"F-Forgive me." I said this in a formal and begging tone. I was at fault and I knew that it was wrong to listen uninvited to other people's conversation but I just couldn't help it. I wanted to ask about how she knew I was there when she had her back turned to me for most of that time but I was too busy trying to appease her.

"Nope, I'm not going to forgive you that easily, get in one of those cubicles now." I started to panic when she dragged me and pushed me in one of the cubicles in that washroom. I unconsciously imagined stuff that I thought she would do to me that only happened in mangas.

"I-I'm sorry already stop it!" I protested as I saw her lock the door in the cubicle after she squeezed herself inside before forcing me to sit down on the toilet seat.

"No way, you peeped in my personal business so now I'm going to force you to show me everything!" She was unrelenting as she started unbuttoning the first three buttons of my blouse.

"That's absurd!" I tried pushing her away with my feet but to my surprise she used that chance to put my legs above her shoulders as her shadow covered me. My body unconsciously arched itself forward as I used my hands to push against her shoulder but she was more than capable of overpowering me and she did. She was halfway pulling my blouse down my shoulders when she suddenly paused and looked up as if she forgot something.

"Oh… wait that's not good…" She muttered. To my surprise she stepped back on her own then showed me her all high and mighty 'hands folded on my chest' stance. I was more worried on what she's thinking about than what she would've done if she continued her assault because everything that worries this girl is probably something in catastrophic level.

"What is it?" I asked. If it was something personal I didn't want to barge in any more than I already had. However, the way she looked at me suggested that I was also heavily involved in whatever it was.

"Your captain is currently taking a serious beating. I suggest you begin to compose yourself. You're going to have to work hard to make a comeback." The face she showed me was filled with disappointment, not with me but probably with my president who should still be playing right now. I was startled because there were no television inside this washroom yet she sounded like she knew perfectly well what was happening outside in the playing area.

"How can you say that? You're not even-…!" I wanted to complain but she pushed a bottle of cold water on my cheeks.

"Go drink and go back to your teammates. I don't advise you to watch Sera's match though, it's going to be depressing." She said this before she turned and walked away. I was stunned because she seemed really serious about the matter.

I picked myself up and hurried to our room and even though Saki told me not to, I checked the television set for our president. I immediately noticed that Saki was right. Our score which was over a hundred the past match was now as low as fifty-three thousand and nine hundred while the first place was in a very high position at one hundred and thirty-one thousand and four hundred points. To make matters more unbelievable, the team that was leading was the last place an hour ago in Hanada's match.

"W-What happened?" I couldn't help but ask this to my teammates who looked extremely crest fallen while they were watching the set.

It was then that they told me what happened. Kanbara explained to me on how Sera couldn't complete a hand no matter how good her starting hand was. It was as if her hands were sealed by some sort of phenomenon. She couldn't even get to tempai. I remembered one person before who was able to seal her enemy's hands by looking at them but to find someone with rather similar abilities here right now is mystifying.

"It's the last hand; if Sera can get this we might still have a chance." Nagi pointed at the television set.

When the tiles were dealt I noticed that Sera had a good starting hand. Three of the two of characters, one three of character, two of the two of bamboos, three east winds three of the two of balls. She was immediately in tempai. She can get a heaven's hand if she gets what she needs in her first turn as dealer or she can win a Suu'ankou with 'tanki' wait. Both hands I mentioned were Yakumans. Nothing would raise team spirit more than seeing her win with a yakuman. But even if she didn't what we really wished for is that she manages to win consecutive times in a row and force dealer repeats. We know she's capable of that kind of feat.

On her first turn to draw she drew the four of characters. I felt my stomach twist in quiet anticipation. It was an annoying miss; it was one tile higher than what she needed. The other players were far from tempai still which means we had more chances of winning this hand than anyone else. None of the other players had the three of characters which was the tile Sera needed. Upon one round of drawing none of them improved their hands and the three of characters were still missing from the game. Hopefully the tiles we needed were not in the dead wall which would be impossible to gain without the abilities of the high-school champion.

"One last tile but it seems so elusive." Nagi bit her lips. I too could feel the same tension she was feeling. It's these moments that can piss a player so much.

"She needs to win this or that's it for the vice-captain match." Yae Kobashiri finally stood up. I looked at her and saw that she didn't look as crest fallen as she did an hour ago. Even though I didn't like her very much I felt a little glad. I just wish that I can say the same for Sera right now.

Three rounds of drawing later one of the players have finally caught up to us. Her hand wasn't very strong but it was obvious that she was aiming to end the round to end the match. This girl was the current leader and I couldn't help but wonder if she was the person with the ability similar to that of the girl with a monocle in Miyamori High. Another round later and the first three of characters finally appeared in the game. However another player had it and we could only wish that player discard that tile and deal in to Sera. Sadly, it was not fated that the girl discarded the tile; instead she kept it as a part of her straight and threw the red dragon instead.

"That was close!" Kanbara said. She was beside me and even though Sera was already in a pinch she still had her trademark smile. Sometimes I envy this girl. Normally, in team tournaments, people already panic when their vice-captain is losing very badly because it's almost a coup de grace for the whole team. I wish I could be as calm as her but if Sera doesn't win this one the pressure will be on me to make a comeback. It's not that I'm not used to that kind of pressure but being honest; no one really gets used to that kind of pressure.

I really want to tell people how Sera won that match and scored consecutive high scoring hands in a row but I would be lying. Her potential yakuman ended in an anti-climactic tempai which never bloomed. The only compensation we got in that last hand apart from the cheap one thousand points awarded to tempai holders was the fact that none in the game managed to score either. At least that meant the score I needed to accumulate did not increase.

"I guess it couldn't be helped." Kanbara sighed. She sounded disappointed but she was still smiling… how does she do this?!

"I'm sorry that I wasn't here to watch this game with you guys." I felt guilty that I missed most of Sera's game because of eavesdropping inside the washroom. Not that it would've done something to change Sera's fate in that match but still that would've added to the team's morale… or at least made it look like that I care more which is not a lie.

"No, I'm actually glad you didn't watch the game. You might've lost your spirit if you saw what happened." Kanbara replied. While Sera was our team president; Kanbara felt like our vice-president and sometimes even more than that. Her mahjong skills might be average but she surely takes care of the team nicely like a veteran manager… or something like that.

It was my turn to be escorted out of our waiting room. It was Kozue Furuzuka who went with me and we even met Sera on the way. She looked really depressed, almost like Yae a while ago. I searched inside me for the perfect words to say to her but I couldn't find anything appropriate. Back then I didn't have this kind of opportunity to comfort my captain in Himematsu because that girl of the Atago do really well on her own even against gifted opponents.

"P-President… I…" I struggled to spark a conversation.

"Don't worry about me… concentrate on your game. I'm sorry Suehara-san but I'm leaving this up to you." She raised her hand in a gesture of a 'high five'. I guess this was her way of 'tagging' someone like that in a wrestling match. I took a deep breath and raised my hand to meet hers and gladly accepted the 'high five'.

"Leave it to me!" I said this with full confidence. I didn't know what I was going to face but I couldn't lose now. No… not now because I can imagine someone's face teasing me if ever I fail to impress her in this match. Wait… is she beginning to become my motivation? Something is beginning to be seriously wrong with me.

I walked alone to the playing area where three players were already waiting. I didn't know them because these players are mostly from the prefecture of Kiyosumi and the gate keeper of Kiyosumi that repelled any other school from entering the nationals made sure that I didn't get a chance to face any of these girls. They were all smiling at me when I entered the room as if they were mocking our team for our horrible performances in the first and fourth match.

"We've already picked tiles for positions. It seems you're going north." Said one of the three girls who will be my opponents. I only nodded and reply and prevented myself from saying something unnecessary. I felt that if I wanted to really win this for the team I had to be in full concentration without anything else boggling my mind except on how to win every hand.

"You're Kyouko Suehara from the previous Himematsu dream team right?" One of my opponents asked much to my disbelief. It was a girl wearing damn large eye glasses. Her hair was only up to neck length and she looked very thing rather than slender.

"Yes." I couldn't say I wasn't because that would count as sarcasm. After all I didn't want them to suddenly get weird ideas like ganging up on me early in the round. I wasn't surprised at all that they knew about me. I'm quite proud to say that some of my matches were televised before and even recorded on tape by many teams. Then again on hindsight it might be bad because they may already have prepared a counter measure against my playing style. What's my playing style you ask? I'm not gifted in mahjong like some monsters in the game and nor do I excel in digital gameplay. I guess you can say that I'm blitz player because I like going for small and easy to win hands. Unfortunately that kind of style won't be much help in this match because of the huge advantage the first place has and if I want to win this I'll have to go for limit hands.

Not too long after, the dice finally rolled and everything was set to start. On the first hand nothing looked too promising for me. It wasn't a bad hand but it wasn't also a big hand. I wasn't too far away from tempai and I only needed three more tiles to score a seventy fu and four han worth hand which should be around at least eight thousand points similar to that of a mangan. After five turns, I managed to get all the tiles I need but one which is the two of sticks.

"So Miss Kyouko Suehara, can you share with us why you haven't played mahjong in the tournaments for so long?" One of my enemies asked. The tone she used was that of a spoiled brat bullying a little girl in the playground sandbox. I didn't bother to look at her or even answer.

"I was wondering that too, I've been watching your games back then before you suddenly disappeared." Another one asked me. However, this one seemed tamer as if she sincerely wanted to hear a proper reply. This girl looked the youngest among my opponents and she had black hair that she kept in a fold and held them with a pony tail. Come to think of it that hair style almost looked like mine.

"I'm sorry but things like that aren't really something I want to talk about in a game." I replied. I was careful not to sound all high and mighty as I rejected her but I also wanted to sound firm about my decision. I looked at her and saw her frown in contrast to the girl who asked me first who was sneering beside me obviously mocking me.

"You know what I'm more disappointed about? Sera Eguchi! She sucked back there." That mother fucker. I felt my blood rise upon hearing this girl bad mouth my current president. I know me and Sera haven't been acquainted long but that doesn't mean I don't see her as a friend; and I hate it when people talk bad about my friends. I took a deep breath while drawing my tile which unfortunately wasn't the two of sticks and ignored her.

"Yes, she lost the most in that match. She contributed so many points that now we a fairer chance of winning this game." The third girl added to the conversation. I seriously wanted to slam my hands against the table in protest but I remembered that there were cameras all over us. If I did something unbecoming here and lost there will be nothing to redeem our team in front of everyone.

"You said it! It's so shameful that the former number two seeded-…! Hwoah!" The girls in front of me gasped as I slammed the two of sticks that I just drew. I looked at the motor mouth in front of me as I declared my win.

"Seventy fu four han. That will be four thousand once and two thousand twice." I said this in a deeper voice than I usually had. Two of them had an astounded look while the most talkative of them in front of me clicked her tongue. She was probably disappointed that she didn't get the first win of the match and this was very satisfying for me.

I won two more consecutive hands one of which was a direct hit non-dealer baiman to the leader and the later was an eight thousand point sixty fu and four han hand by tsumo. If this was an individual game I'd be happy but as it stands I'm still far from taking the lead. But still I had to give myself a little bit of credit for overtaking the third place even by just a little.

"Getting a little cocky now are yah?" The blabbering idiot in front of me started again. When I look at her she doesn't seem faced by my wins at all. I believed that the reason for her confidence is the huge margin between us. However I know for a fact that such gap in score can be reduced to nothing with only a few hands or a high scoring yakuman.

I wanted to shut her up again by winning another hand but another player stopped me and won the hand. It was a puny thirty fu and two han hand worth two thousand points and since it's won from a tsumo the payment is split and I didn't have to pay the lion share of that pot.

"That should stop you for a while." It was the girl who was second to ask me why I left the world of mahjong that scored. She was the most sincere amongst the three in there and also comparably the most quiet. Looking at her right now I felt that she's not a bad person unlike the blabber mouth in front of me. I frowned at her jokingly to answer her taunt.

Little did I know that she was the most dangerous opponent in that match. After that hand she scored consecutively against everybody. I suppose it's true that the best players don't show their skill pre-emptively. In the span of four rounds she managed to score forty-five thousand points against everybody while I stole one of those rounds with a non-dealer haneman to keep myself in the game.

"W-Who is this girl?" I could hear the girl at my left whisper as she looked terrified at the girl in front of her at my right. The idiot directly in front of me was also wide eyed as she took the blunt of all hour wins.

It's not needed to be said that we were all baffled on how this one girl was doing but we had no time to appreciate her abilities more as before one of us could utter another word the sound of tiles consecutively dropping interrupted us. Taka-taka-taka-taka-tak, yes that's the sound you don't want to hear coming from one of your opponents in any mahjong match.

"Tsumo! That will be sixteen thousand. Four thousand from all of you!" The girl cheered. It was a dealer mangan. I didn't feel this before since I was used to fighting stronger players with monstrous aura but this girl was emanating a dangerous pressure too. I could feel the air around us getting thicker and thicker until it was harder to breathe. She's not causing it, but rather it was our own fear of losing that's causing us to get fidgety.

"S-Someone seriously stop this girl." Is what the girl in front of me wanted to say. She looked more helpless now and her confidence in herself seemed to diminish little by little. That was the end of the first half. The current leader had a big smile on her face while the two other girls looked extremely depressed. As for myself I also felt the stress but I was accustomed to not showing it.

We were given fifteen minutes to do everything we wanted to relax. It's not an ample of time but I decided that it would be best spent by getting myself a bottle of cold water. On the way out of the playing area I was met by my teammate and president Sera Eguchi. She had a gentle and relaxed smile on her face but all I sense behind it was regret. It's obvious that she still couldn't forgive herself for losing so many points.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. She looked more stressed than me and I was the one currently playing. It was probably her guilt that was doing that to her.

"I should be asking that. That girl from that team 'On the Board' is really something." She scratched her head while pretending to laugh probably to cheer me on.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to win this somehow." I replied with mock confidence. If she was guilty of bringing the team down there was no way I could be truthful and say that it's going to be damn hard to win this game.

"Here I thought you might want to have a drink." She tossed me a bottle of cold iced tea. It was of apple flavour, not my favourite but this will do. After drinking a few mouthfuls I gave the bottle back to her which she insisted I take back with me to the playing area. I declined because I felt that it will only distract me from playing my best. She also asked me if I needed to go to the washroom and I replied with a wave of my head in a 'no' gesture. I didn't want to go because I might stumble into something weird again.

I used all of my remaining time to calm myself down. I closed my eyes while I sat in the playing area to compose myself and think back on how that girl managed to win that many hands. Did she have any weakness that I overlooked? If there's a time to review the rounds it's this time. I thought and thought but no matter how much I looked back I couldn't find any real weakness to her play style. She didn't have any habit and it seemed that she was just playing normally. It wasn't long before the other players in the match arrived and we all sat down. Using the north, south, east and west tiles we figured out each other's positions for the starting round. I was playing on south this time which means I'm second to the dealer… who was the girl from the team 'On the Board'.

For the first hand, the hand I got wasn't very promising. But after about twelve turns, I finally managed to get on tempai along with one other who was the current dealer.

"Riichi!" She declared. She immediately caught the attentions of the two other players in the match. As for me, even though I was in tempai I didn't want to declare my riichi because I didn't want them to be weary of me. This is usually called 'hidden tempai' but it's not really something that should be named.

"N-Not again." I heard the noisy one mutter. She was obviously lost on what she should discard. She focused on the girl eating up all her points and clumsily discarded the last tile I needed, the one of bamboos.

"Ron!"

I quickly claimed the win after she set the tile on the discarded pile. She gasped in shock as she looked at me.

"Thirty fu and four han. That's Seven thousand and seven hundred points." I declared. It wasn't much but winning off the person who bad mouthed my team's president felt great; at least for the time being. The look on her face that says 'you bitch!' was also priceless.

Two rounds later and I managed to win another hand, this time it was a dealer mangan and every single one of them were forced to pay eight thousand points. The lead of the leader was still huge, about forty thousand more but at least I began pulling away from the dirty mouthed numb skull beside me. I was just worried that the last place who was now really struggling for points would fall negative before I could catch up to the leader.

Immediately in the next round I managed to decrease the lead of 'On the Board' by eight thousand by hitting her with a forty fu four han hand. I was now finally within firing range but I still needed all the luck that I could get.

"You're really amazing! To be still holding on like this." The points leader said this almost as if she was taunting me. Did I misjudge her attitude? Was she really the kind who taunts her enemies? I did not have anything against that kind of attitude since I am used with my previous team captain who taunts the hell out of everybody whenever she plays in a match and it didn't matter if it was a tournament or not. I didn't bother answering this because I wasn't finished with my objective yet.

In the next three turns this girl made it harder for me to catch up as she once again ended my momentum and scored a haneman for twelve thousand points. Worse is that I had to pay the bigger share of that pot because I was the dealer. Then, immediately in the next turn she scored a fifty fu three han hand worth four thousand and eight hundred points. It wasn't much but it led again to a much wider lead and there were barely any hands left. Two turns later I was again the dealer as surprisingly no one won in those two turns.

"This game is mine!" The girl cheered. This time she wasn't taunting us. There comes a time when you're winning so much that you want to declare your win even before you actually do. This is a strategy adopted by some players to demoralize their opponent more or sometimes they just do it for the heck of it. This girl emitted a dangerous aura which intimidated her opponents in the match which included even me. It wasn't similar to Saki's or Awaii's killing aura, it's a much lesser version of that but that still meant she was a gifted player who an average player will take years to beat.

"_Damn it, do I still have a chance?_" I was beginning to doubt myself. More or less that girl was right. It's already the last hand and I was the dealer. My only chance is to be able to win this one to force dealer repeats but I still had much to score before I reach her. I can already imagine the disappointed faces of my teammates who are counting me back inside our waiting room. However, more than that, I could imagine the face of that girl who destroyed me three years ago. I could only ask if she was expecting this to happen to me or not. Saki… even though she had no business being here she really came in this tournament to cheer me on. I don't know what her real objective was but just knowing that she came made me feel warm somehow.

The instance I uttered her name in my mind I felt a rather warm sensation spread over my chest. It was coming from my shirt pocket. I looked down and saw that it was the popsicle stick that I had since yesterday. Because of everything that had happened I almost forgot that I still had the darn thing. We were allowed a minute to stretch every after a round and for me I used that minute to check on that stick. Why did it feel so warm?

The stick felt warm even in my hands especially the portion where the popsicle used to be. I remembered how Saki teasingly sucked on it before she forced it into my mouth and I couldn't help but frown.

"Let's start!" The girl who was moments away to claim her win excitedly urged everyone to start. The referee inside the room who usually stayed in one corner to facilitate the match nodded and agreed with her.

I still had the popsicle in my hand when the official gave us the go to start. I nodded but I felt that I had to do something before we start. I placed that stick in my mouth and started to suck on it as if it was dripping with something precious. Immediately everything in the room disappeared as if the tournament had been a dream. Now, I was in a field filled with flowers. In the middle of that field was a hill where one flower was growing alone swaying with the wind. That flower looked extremely beautiful compared to that of the other flowers around me. I didn't know what was happening, am I still in the tournament? Did I collapse or something and now I'm dreaming?

Not knowing what I should do, I approached the hill which wasn't too steep. I took my eyes off the flower and upon reaching the top that flower seemed to disappear and in place of it stood a girl. She was smiling gently at me with her hands in her pocket as she looked at me straight in the eye.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting here since you started." She said this with a rather impatient tone.

"Where am I and what's happening?" I asked. I was deeply confused. If this was a dream then it's weird, yes, weird even for the level of the nightmares I've been having lately.

"What? Did you forget? You're still fighting in a tournament." Saki giggled almost as if she was ridiculing me.

"W-What then I-…!" I panicked . I couldn't help but think that I was somehow knocked unconscious and my real body is probably being resuscitated right now in the playing area.

"Oh calm down will you everything's going to be fine. This place is not affected by common space and time." She approached me and gently wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Not again…" I sighed. I was now almost certain that this is one of those dreams again where this girl abuses me. If it was true then the only salvation I can see is that when I wake up the tournament is also a bad nightmare and that we were still just on our way there.

"You're too tensed. Relax. When you go back, make sure you show everyone there what for." She said this in a commanding manner as she used her free hand to pull head closer to hers as she leaned forward. Before I knew it I was already leaning forward myself as if I was accepting, no, inviting her lips.

"J-Just this once then." I closed my eyes as I felt my blood fill my cheeks. I felt our lips graze against each other. Knowing her I expected her to push her tongue in but before anything else could happen-….

"You're the dealer Suehara you discard first." A voice interrupted and when I opened my eyes I was back in the playing area sitting on my place.

"Are you dreaming or something?"

The girl from the leading team teased.

"And why in the world are you sucking on that stick?" She asked. I noticed that the stick was still in my mouth. This should be natural IF there was a popsicle on it but since there wasn't any then it was quite embarrassing.

Nothing's changed but somehow I felt different. I felt my eyes sharpen as I looked at my opponents. Then as I removed the stick from my mouth the girl in front of me, the girl with the most points, stood up and stepped back as if something repelled her.

"I'm sorry, I spaced out for a moment, and did I startle you?" I asked. I noticed that she looked as if she was shivering and she was sweating abnormally. She looked like she has seen, no, felt that a monster was in front of her.

"W-What was that? Is there a problem?" The official asked who was surprised by that girl's sudden movements.

"N-Nothing." The girl waved her head embarrassed as she took her seat.

Other than that I didn't feel anything else until I touched my tiles. Dozens of mirrors appeared in the room which hovered over my opponents. I didn't know if I was imagining them but since the official or anybody there didn't notice them then I dismissed them as my imagination. I waved my head a bit and sure enough they were gone. However strangely as I looked at my opponents I could somehow understand their playing styles. The girl beside me was a girl who loved playing with tiles of bamboos, the glasses girl on my left preferred not getting any terminal tiles and almost always goes for tanyaos. The girl in front of me was indeed special, she had the ability of 'sacrificial fortune' an ability where she sacrifices the first few hands by taking apart her hand in which triggers 'fortune' which guarantees her to win with bigger hands in the next rounds. The number of hands that she purposely sacrificed in the second half was two and she already won twice. Since this is the last turn, it means that she cannot use that ability again since everything will be up to me; if I don't win this round then the game is over.

Four turns after the starting the round I was in tempai and my hand was rather scary. I had three of the five of balls, three of the six of balls, seven of the seven of balls an eight ball, a red dragon and an east wind. I drew another eight ball and discarded the red dragon. I was finally in tempai but I didn't bother throwing a riichi stick.

One turn immediately after that, the girl in front of me declared riichi but for some reason I wasn't bothered. It's like I'm already so sure that I was going to win this hand no matter what she does. As if all of a sudden, she wasn't even in my level. Her riichi proved to be her undoing in this round for she was forced to throw away a six of balls. I immediately claimed it and called a kan. I drew from the dead tile a five of balls which allowed me to complete another set. The three other players in front of me were amused when I called another kan this time with the five of balls. Before I reached for the tile in the dead wall I already felt that the round will end there as if I instinctively knew what tile it was I was grabbing. True enough I drew the eight of balls which finally completed my hand.

"Tsumo! That's a dealer san'baiman that will be thirty six thousand please!" San'baimans are usually worth only twenty four thousand, but if you win with it as dealer then without the limiting rule then it surpasses a regular yakuman. With 'he who is responsible pays' rule the leader of that match was forced to pay the entire amount of the san'baiman.

"W-What!?" Everyone in the table gasped. The once leading woman stood up again in surprise as she saw her points get shaved critically in the final hand.

That should've been the end of the game right there. That was the last hand and the final score would've been one hundred fifty thousand and seven hundred points for us leading over 'On the Board' which should be in one hundred and twenty eight thousand. It was a miraculous comeback. However…

"I'm sorry but we can't count that win and I'm sorry but that's the end of the game." The official of the match approached us and reputed my win to my surprise.

"What why?!" I protested. It was a legitimate win. Even if I had miscounted how much I won the official would only need to correct the numbers and allow the match to continue since I was the dealer and I should have the option to extend my dealership.

"Well… it should've been fine and it would've been a legitimate win but…" The official pointed at a tile which was misplaced at the back of the dead wall. In my eagerness to win I became too brash and accidentally knocked off a tile from its wall. This was called a chombo. The moment that tile fell I was already disqualified to win the round and worse the punishment for this was a deduction of sixteen thousand points to be distributed to the other teams equally.

"B-But-…!" I knew I was in the wrong but this was just so mortifying. I was about to win and in such a grand manner to and yet I have to face this embarrassing loss due to a chombo?!

"I'm sorry but rules are rules." The official shrugged. I knew that he was just doing his job but still.

Everyone in the table laughed except for the girl who won that match. She looked at me with such intent that I felt her eyes pierce through me. I felt really embarrassed as the other girls laughed at me. I didn't know why these idiots were so happy, they lost too! The only one who had the right to cheer wasn't even smiling.

"Thank you for the match." All of us bowed down in front of each other and thanked each other for the wonderful match. No… I didn't think it was wonderful… it was a chombo for god's sake!

I felt like crying, no really, I wanted to burst out in tears because even though it wasn't a national type of tournament it was still televised and losing with a chombo was something many would look at as 'immature'. I can imagine the disappointed expressions on my teammates' faces except for two: Kanbara and Hanada who would blankly smile. I am not too excited about meeting them but even before I could go out a hand grabbed my wrist tightly that I almost yelped in pain.

"You! What was that?" I turned to see who it was and found out that it was the winner of our match. It was the girl from 'On the Board'. She had a very puzzled look on her face as if she couldn't understand something.

"What was what?" I asked. I felt that she was insulting me if in case she was asking 'what the chombo' was all about.

"In that last hand, you suddenly changed. Like a completely different person. Don't tell me you held back until the final hand for the fun of it?" She asked with a frown. It sounded like she was offended.

The question she asked was a question I still had no answer to. I didn't know it myself. Can I tell her about the split second dream that I had before we started that round? Of course not! She'd probably think that I should belong in a mental hospital if I did that.

"Who knows…?" I lazily answered as I shrugged, turned away and walked away. I didn't want to have to come up with an explanation. Besides, I was still heartbroken myself because of that chombo and all I really wanted to do right now was to disappear.

"This is not over! It might not be in this tournament but I will have you fight me again in another!" She shouted. Was it a challenge? Boy… this is the first time someone actually challenged me like that and actually felt interesting.

"Yeah, yeah… I waved away without saying another word as I exited the room." The members of the winning team passed me without giving me notice. After them I saw my own teammates. They were heartbroken, crestfallen and eyes swollen from crying rivers of tears and wait… cancel that, no that was my imagination being pathetic. In reality I was surprised that they were enthusiastically running up to me before I got embraced by Nagi Shinmen.

"Good job Kyouko!" Sera cheered me on. I wasn't sure if she was just making me feel better or if she misheard or misread the winner announcement.

"Uh… Sera, I lost I-…!"

"Silly it's not about winning or losing! You certainly surprised everyone with that last hand. We all know you won that! Look!" Sera pulled Kanbara from behind her and pushed her forward.

"Ah!"

Satomi gasped as she took out her mobile phone from inside her skirt's pocket.

"Here look. Apparently your almost successful comeback in that last hand has attracted the attention of dozens of sponsors. They said they loved your 'dynamic and exciting' play-style and they want to be a part of it by funding some of our activities!" Kanbara reported with high enthusiasm. Somehow failing there wasn't really a big setback for them it seems.

"You were amazing Kyouko!" Nagi started rubbing her cheeks with mine. I didn't mind this kind of skinship because I am used to it back in Himematsu. Besides Nagi is my teammate who… who's probably interested to the girl stalking me but I won't tell her that.

"Hey that's my trade mark! But no joking, that last hand was amazing!" Hanada looked a bit offended that Nagi used 'subara' but it was probably her own sense of humour.

"I don't really understand it…" I scratched the back of my head. No matter how much they speak I don't really get how they can be so happy.

"Kyouko, unlike in high-school, where we only have one chance to enter national tournaments every year, professional mahjong is less restrictive. This tournament was only to attract more sponsors and thanks to you that's what happened." Sera went behind me and gave me a strong tap on the back, so strong that it felt more like a slap.

"But it was an embarrassing loss…" Even with all the praises I couldn't raise my head because even in the high-school division a chombo is very rare, and sometimes one doesn't even happen in a course of a year.

"Yeah it was. Wahaha, I bet many people will be talking about it." Kanbara replied to my concerns teasingly. I pouted towards her direction and I was greeted by a funnier smile than she than that she usually displayed.

"This tournament is over for us, but don't slack off just yet because we'll be joining both minor and major tournaments. In fact there's one coming up in just a month!" Sera encouraged the team. Immediately, everyone except me and someone else who was wearing a frown since she arrived there.

"The end of that game sucked. You should've won that." A familiar voice interrupted us. It was the voice of someone I haven't met in a long time. It's someone whom I respected and continue to respect, Hiroe Atago. Yes this is my previous captain whose ego reaches that of the gods themselves. She was with her sister, Kinue Atago, and her face was brimming with confidence as usual.

"Kyouko sorry we couldn't come to you beforehand to cheer you on." Kinue had a frown displayed on her usually calm face.

"Don't be silly, we're in different teams now. You're not obliged to do that." I replied as I scratched my cheek. My teammates were silent when I noticed them and I realized that I haven't properly introduced them to my ex-teammates yet. I felt rather guilty because it was rude that I haven't already done that.

"Ah, Hiroe this is my current team president, Sera Eguchi." I gestured to Sera who stepped forward and extended her hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you." Sera was the first to attempt contact with my former captain. She was using her usual Kansai accent.

"Yes, I envy you right now because you just met the best mahjong player there is: me." Hiroe replied. Did this narcissist just level up? Even, I, who's the most tolerant of her attitude next to her sister, felt that it was over her to say something like that.

"Ehehe… I'm sorry but people say that she's cute like that." I softly whispered this to Sera whom I saw perspire because of the awkwardness of Hiroe's reply.

"I hoped you didn't watch my game, it was embarrassing." Sera replied back but not before nodding subtly in my way.

"I was playing when yours came up. I was lucky enough that I finished my match right before Kyouko's turn." My previous captain explained. I felt taken aback that my match was seen more by everyone than that of my teammates. I thought that it was probably because since it was the last match of the day, more teams have finished with their matches and watched other games. Then again… maybe I am just unlucky….

"I'd love to chat more but I'm afraid I'll just get in your way, you have more games for today right?" Sera politely said this to Hiroe. She was right. Because Hiroe's team won their match they didn't have too long before they were called for their next battle. Because it's the first day, the matches are relatively made rapidly unlike when it closes in the championships where teams only play once per day and sometimes even only once per week.

Hiroe nodded before she once again turned back to me. She extended her hand to me which I graciously accepted with my own. This girl was never someone who enjoyed hugs and preferred that of a formal handshake. I guess it's in her nature.

"I'll see you again in other tournaments right? Just because we were once teammates don't think I'll ever take it easy on you." She said this in a friendly yet somehow intimidating manner.

"I can't imagine you ever doing that." I replied teasingly with a smirk. Because of her arrogant nature it's usual where people think that this ex-captain of mine rarely gives her all but it's actually the opposite. Never has she held back in her matches not even in practice matches. Quite the opposite of someone else I know who almost always holds back like she was playing with a bunch of kindergartners.

It was after a minute later when our team decided to leave the premises. It was relief for us that we didn't check in a hotel before hand because we would've paid in full for a month's stay and regretted it. Back in Kanbara's van, I couldn't help but feel sad, not only because of that mistake I made but because I felt something was missing. It was then I remembered that she came to watch my debut and yet I didn't even see her on the way out.

One of my teammates, Kozue, noticed the distant look in my eyes and called my attention.

"What's wrong Suehara-san? Still troubled over that? Please cheer up it wasn't all bad." Furuzuka looked really worried and frankly it was touching.

"Yeah cheer up Kyouko, you already helped the team a lot with that last minute kan combo." Kanbara added. A Kan combo eh? Now that she mentions it, it does feel like a combo but it wasn't something that I would use often. Why? Because that's her trademark move. Besides the fact that I am scared myself that those Kans will later comeback to haunt me, I also don't want to depend on the signature move of the girl I consider as my greatest rival.

"Besides I believe that you and Nagi did best for the team today. Right Yae?" Hanada joined in the cheering squad. But I feel that she did the wrong thing by asking the girl who probably liked me the least in the team.

I turned to Yae to see her expression and hear her thoughts about the matter. It would be interesting since she has been silent since we finished with the match.

"I-It wasn't all bad, b-but don't get me wrong because I wasn't that impressed either." She replied as she closed her eyes and turn her head away from me. I could only smile a bit because it felt awkward hearing such a weird reply from a teammate. People have a term for replies like these, what was it again? Tsundara? Tundure? Oh well.

She might hide it but I am rather sensitive to these kinds of things. I can see her blushing face as she tried to deny her own praises for me. So there is also a cute side to this girl after all. I wanted to giggle but I felt that might reverse everything. When the team finally saw me smile I felt that the atmosphere changed for the better. I guess it was me that was making it a little heavy awhile ago and I felt guilty for it.

After a few hours of heartrending experiences on the road in courtesy of Satomi Kanbara and her expert driving skills we finally arrived in our team's mansion. Because of that tournament we were able to gather some sponsors who were willing to fund our battles for the next coming few tournaments. I can only pray that next time I would be popular for something different to a chombo.

Upon arriving in the mansion everybody in the team except me went inside the mansion. I stayed in the front yard for awhile to pause and observe at that building which will serve as our headquarters from hear on out. It wasn't a great debut but with that I am finally back. I'm finally in the same field as her again and I felt quite ecstatic.

"That was quite the show there, you have talent for showmanship." A voice I did not expect to hear called from behind me. I turned to see a girl leaning lazily on the porch of our front gate. She wasn't too far from me and the gate was still open as it became my responsibility to close it.

"You just appear whenever you like don't you?" I was surprised to see her here when I didn't when I left the tournament building. Did she follow the van all the way here? How exactly does she travel? I don't see any other car near here.

"Don't be surprised, I left immediately when I saw you lose. Sorry for not being there, I was afraid you might cry your eyes out if you saw me there. You were in front of everyone and I didn't want you to embarrass yourself." She said this in a surprisingly apologetic tone. I wish she didn't say this. I walked to her slowly as I felt my eyes start to get heavy. I wasn't falling asleep but my vision was getting blurry as I felt the first tear drop roll down my cheek.

"May I… may I cry now?" I asked this of her when we were finally only a meter apart. I felt her arms pull me closer before I felt them wrap around my shoulders. At that point I didn't know what came over me but I just lost it. That shoulder which allowed me to rest on it felt like the warmest pillow on earth as I cried uncontrollably. I complained as I used her as a body pillow like a teenage girl who just got rejected for the first time. Why? I constantly asked. Why did I have to lose? Did I not give it everything I have? I wanted my debut to be filled with the joy of victory that's why I tried so hard and yet to lose on the very first match...

"There, there, everyone in that place saw how hard you worked." I felt a hand rub and caress the back of my head. Why did it feel so good? Her touch felt softer than the finest cashmere and it was easy to get lost in it. Her encouragements that she whispered in my ear felt a thousand times more refreshing than the cheers my teammates gave me just awhile ago.

"For so long, I haven't played for so long and yet I…" Still, I couldn't stop myself from opening to her. All my regrets, I poured everything on her chest and shoulder which kindly allowed me to rest on them. All the while as I used her shirt like a towel she kept silent as she continued to tenderly caress my hair. Even if she wasn't saying anything, even if I wasn't looking at her face, I could tell that she was carefully listening to me and that touched me more than anything.

"Don't worry; I will support you from now on. It took me long to get here but, I'm finally here." She whispered this as close to me as possible. That sentence made me stop for a bit like my mind jolted in curiosity about what she just meant.

"K-Kyahh!" The sound of a squealing maiden interrupted us. I turned my head slowly as my Saki's arms continued to support me only to see a heavily blushing Nagi Shinmen staring at us in front of the mansion's main door. She looked extremely flustered and it seemed as if she fell down in surprise the moment she opened that door.

As if my body was programmed, I automatically tried to push Saki away who had a rather sadistic smile on her face the moment she saw someone watching us. Once again she overpowered me as she continued to hold me by my waist as I try to move closer to Nagi.

"I-It's not what you think." Somehow I managed to wipe the tears off my face before I tried to convince Nagi. I was too late however since her squeal already attracted the attention of other predators in the form of my teammates. Kozue Furuzaka had a rather similar reaction to Nagi and covered her face shyly while everyone else leaned forward as if to check us out more. This did not stop Saki from letting her hand continue to stay around my waist.

"S-Suehara-san, I don't know if it's good for the sponsors if you're seen making out with your girlfriend out here." It was Sera's turn to shoot and it felt like a critical hit. We were not making out but my face flustered maximum red just imagining if that actually happened.

"Y-You! This should be punished by death penalty!" Yae looked embarrassed too but she had a frown on her face in contrast to everybody who were either smiling or hiding.

"So this is the girl in question. This is marvellous! Did she follow us all the way here? That's so touching." Hanada sounded extremely excited to meet the girl who persistently kept embracing me despite my protests. What exactly has this girl been doing for the past few years? She definitely had no muscles, I could tell because she felt soft as a marshmallow to the feel but I can barely move her.

"Wahaha, so you came." Everybody suddenly grew silent including me. We all turned our heads to the girl who was walking towards us. Kanbara was the sole person there who did not looked surprised.

I felt the arms around my hips loosen before the girl behind me passed me. Unexpectedly, Saki met Kanbara in the middle of the walkway from the door to me. They had friendly smiles on their faces as they looked at each other. They both raised right hands before they gave each other a 'high-five' to everybody's surprise.

"I've been in the neighbourhood for a couple of days now." Saki replied. I was just as confused as everyone in there. I didn't know what was happening but it seemed as if Kanbara had been expecting Saki for some time now.

"It's great that you managed to find the place. I thought you'd be going with Senou." Everyone including me didn't move an inch as Kanbara continued her conversation with Saki. Everybody was stunned that Kanbara knew the girl but I was more surprised since I knew who the girl was while they didn't. Kanbara and Saki had been in the same prefecture but never were they teammates since they were in different schools. But since they were in the same prefecture I could understand if they became close in training camps and such but still….

"It was hard to miss; I didn't know that your auntie was so rich. Senou said that she'll be coming tomorrow." Saki chuckled after that reply. I recognized the other name that they were talking about, it was that girl from Tsuruga who had the ability of 'beginner's luck'.

"A-Ah, S-Satomi can you please tell me what's going on here." I rushed beside Kanbara before they could continue with the conversation.

"Wahaha, forgive me, I kept it as a secret to everyone to be a surprise but I present to you our newest applicant!"

As Satomi Kanbara was saying this, the girl removed her cap to reveal a rather long brownish hair that reached an inch past her neck. She took two blue hairclips from inside her shorts' pockets and used them to shape her bangs that almost covered her eyes when uncontrolled. She separated her bangs with the two clips to form an almost leaf like shaped extension in the middle.

"Miyanaga Saki!" Kanbara said the name of that girl out loud.

Without a pause, everyone including me screamed "Eh?!" in surprise. I knew that she was Saki but never did I imagine that she was planning on joining the team. It was even more unexpected that someone from our side already knew about this beforehand. Every single one of my teammates raced to gather around the newest addition to the team. Even Yae who was usually timid looked extremely excited after hearing this shocking news.

"M-Miyanaga Saki? T-The National High-School Three Time Individual Champion? I-In our team?" Sera who should be used to meeting powerful monsters in the mahjong world looked so shocked.

"This is marvellous! It's shocking… but marvellous!" Hanada looked more Jubilant than she usually was.

"Well technically I'm going to join tomorrow." Saki looked rather friendly in contrast to how she always talked when talking alone to me.

"I-I'd invite you to join us in our mansion but I'm not sure you'd like sharing a room." Sera stuttered. Never have I seen her nervous before even in front of a serious game and yet she's stuttering like a teen struggling to get her date for prom.

"Oh I was planning just that, in fact I already have plans."

After saying that she subtly turned to me while flashing me a sharp yet rather seductive stare. I took a huge gulp of my own saliva as I stepped back a bit. When she said 'whatever happens today I will join a team' I should've already guessed what she had in mind.

"I'll be in your care starting tomorrow." She stuck out her tongue my way as if to tease me. It sent chills down my spine as I imagined how I would live my days from that time on.

True enough early in the morning Miyanaga Saki joined the team the next day together with a blonde girl named Kaori Senou.

"W-Why?! Why my room?!" I complained to Kanbara who told me about the details of Saki's transfer to the mansion. It's not like I didn't expect this but I could not help but deny to myself and convince myself that it was all just a mistake.

"Wahaha, she explicitly requested it. She told me that she wanted to get closer to you, the person whom she fought years back in the nationals." Kanbara replied rather happily. Doesn't she realize the heavy explanations of her decision? As for me I couldn't go against her since she's technically the owner of the mansion and I'm more of a freeloader.

"Can you please help me with my stuff Kyouko?" Speaking of the devil, Saki arrived in front of us just as we were talking about her. She was holding a huge bag where I assumed all her stuff were in. I nodded obediently and helped her carry that bag. It was really heavy but it felt like there wasn't much inside. Something felt blunt inside it and in my struggle I accidentally dropped the bag which caused the zipper to open up a bit.

I could not help but take a peek inside. What was it that was so heavy taking the space of the huge bag? Inside were a bunch of metallic objects that I could not recognize until I pulled the zipper a little more. A little more tug and something like a rope dropped from the bag and it was already easy to identify what it was attached to. It was on a circular leather object which was the only non-metal thing inside the bag. From the belt on the middle that served as its 'adjuster' and 'lock' I realized what it was and as soon as I did I turned to the girl who owned it.

"I came well prepared you know. That leash will come in handy tonight."

She said this as she looked at me filled with sadistic intent and a grim smile. I could only look at her rebelliously with teary eyes as I began to recognize the other items inside the bag. It was an assortment of handcuffs, ankle-weights and things that resemble the shape of a man's appendage that I could not push myself to mention. I felt my sweat turn cold as I met her eyes.

"Just some training utensils…I read on some magazines that these things are perfect utensils to train a naughty pet, you'll let me try it sometime right?"

"Y-You" I felt my knees weaken in front of this new threat that she just revealed in my face. Some of the tools I saw in that bag were as thick as graduated cylinders in government funded laboratories and those were the small ones.

"Mahjong is fun isn't it?"


	4. Chapter 3

A Monster's Pet

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AN: Love in blooms and Void Bladeworks update coming soon 3

disclaimer: I don't own any character nor do i profit from saki and her author's work

* * *

Three days since the great Saki Miyanaga joined our team, she already made it so that I will never forget her presence. We… or rather I, had to establish a rule that to divide our bed in two. Fifty- fifty! We used a body pillow to act as our divider but even that idea was easily corrupted into an awkward image because for some reason, she had a dakimakura looked like a twenty-one year old female. I didn't recognize that character from any anime or anyone until I looked in the mirror and gasped. To make matters worse, that character on that pillow had her tight shorts stripped off while her shirt was being pulled up by some unknown force and she had a helpless and embarrassed look on her face. I didn't bother to ask her who that was…. It was obvious.

But, setting the awkwardness aside, that wasn't my main concern at all. Even with the dakimakura between us, I would notice a dark shadow loom over me as if there was someone leaning on top of me every night. I usually wear a blouse themed pajama-top but since the last two days, every time I wake up I find the top three buttons always undone. The logical decision is obviously to accuse that girl beside me but it was almost impossible to pin everything on her since she always faces the opposite direction every time I turn. She seems genuinely asleep when I check too so I'm left with the sad option of letting everything go as if it never happened.

Today is our first tournament together. It's going to be in a local tournament, nothing big, but we're hoping to get the cash prize in this competition to further fund our growing team. We have sponsors but it's always good to be able to stand with one's own resources. The tournament will be held inside Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo and we'll be spending our days there too. It's a four star hotel so it's not going to be cheap but the captain made sure that we had the proper cash for it. If all goes well our money would've multiplied ten times if we claim the first place.

I went with some of my old clothes, a collared shirt with two buttons and short sleeves. I made sure to close the buttons and used a red string ribbon as make shift bow to finish. As usual I felt the need to wear cycling shorts instead of skirts, more so now that I'm with someone who willingly confessed her intentions to violate me the first day she moved in.

Saki, on the other hand, chose a rather peculiar set of clothes. It was a long sleeved dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to the length of her upper arm. She matched these with a three fourth split seamed black running shorts which stretched only a few inches below where her bum cheeks should be. Another peculiar thing is the clips that she wore, separating her bangs, and creating a leaf shaped extension at the middle.

"So Saki and Senoo how does it feel to finally come with us in an official tournament?" Sera asked. Because of her Kansai accent everything she said sounded more cheerful than how a normal person would've said it.

"It's thrilling!" Saki made a 'half-fist –pump' and returned Sera's smile. It's the smile that I will never see when we're alone….

"It feels nostalgic." Senoo replied immediately after Saki. Nostalgic? That's not a word someone who's supposed to be still in college should be using. But I get what she meant! Travelling like this and staying in hotels is what my team did before back in the High-School-Nationals.

"Captain! Are you done with our positions?" Nagi Shinmen asked excitedly. Speaking of Nagi Shinmen let me talk about this girl for a minute. This girl had been acting strange since Saki joined our team. I would catch her stealing glimpses at Saki like the world's most introverted stalker and I'm beginning to think that Saki's 'playboy' mode struck a critical hit. She would blush every time I bring Saki's name but would talk non-stop about her when we really start our conversation.

"I'll do it later when we get there!" Sera replied in a happy-go-lucky manner.

"I disagree captain! You must do it now!" Nagi raised her hands and arms to her chest. She was doing this subtly but I saw her eyes twitch towards Kanbara as if she was warning Sera about something.

"A-Ah! Oh right how lazy of me! I'll do it right now!" Sera looked very eager to comply after she looked at Kanbara for a split second. I understand what they were at… nobody normal would be able to do anything an hour after experiencing Kanbara's driving.

"Eh?" Kanbara didn't hear of the conversation but it looks like she noticed them.

"F-For our vanguard, Hanada Kirame!" Sera cheered.

"Oh! Marvelous!" Hanada cheered back.

"W-Wait a minute aren't I the van ugh…" I heard Yae attempt to complain but she suddenly dropped on her knees and collapsed in the hands of someone who caught her from behind.

"Oh my gosh Yae-san, you've been too excited that you couldn't sleep all night? That's not good… you will really collapse if you do that. Senoo-chan help me tuck her in the van please." Saki asked the aid of her fellow new comer who cheerfully replied 'haii~'. I could see sweat trickle on everyone else's cheek but no one protested.

"It seems Yae-san won't be able to play in today's match so Hanada please do your best." It looks like Sera won't mind what happened… so I guess let's move on….

"M-Marvelous?" Hanada looked troubled about it but she accepted it anyway.

"For our sergeant we'll have… Senoo!"

Oh this is a good choice. Senoo looks shocked but it's a good experience for her. After all, this is only a small tournament compared to the national ones that we will be joining soon so she needs to delve into the world of professionals while the stakes are low.

"For our lieutenant we'll be going with Kozue!" Kozue looks surprised about this decision just like Senoo. For me it's another good decision since Kozue didn't join in the line-up in the last tournament. Also if I remember correctly, she's also the lieutenant in her previous team so this should give her a more comfortable feeling.

"I- I'll do my best!" This girl shows a lot more confidence than that other one. Then again, Senoo's a newer newbie so I can see why she'll feel that way.

"For our vice-captain it it'll be Kyouko Suehara!"

"Eh?! Wait how come Kyouko gets to play again and I don't?!" The expression on Nagi's face looks jealous. Nagi is someone whom I have always known to be extremely competitive and I don't hate that.

"Well… that's because the sponsors loved what Kyouko did last tournament. They requested that she appears again."

After hearing this from Sera I'm beginning to doubt if I'm really an official player in this team or the team's mascot. But then again a little popularity isn't too bad… at least I'm helping my team.

"Of course lastly, for our captain it's going to be no other than one of our newest members, Miyanaga Saki!" Looks like I was right. It's of course always a good idea to put your ace as the general to stand as the team's anchor. Basically the purpose of this is so that whatever the lesser members lose will be redeemed in the last round of the match. I like this because this way I won't feel too much pressure when I play in my match.

"I object!"

Saki stepped forward, raising her hand.

"Kyouko should be the general in this tournament." Shit! Now the pressure's back on me. Why did this girl feel the need to put me in the spotlight like this?

"Eh?"

"If the sponsors requested for Kyouko we should give them her in her best form in the best light! If she's the anchor who will decide whether our team will simply drop out and lose our money it will be more exciting for her fans!" This girl just had to emphasize on the 'lose our money part' now I feel double the pressure!

"You- have a valid point."

Eh? S-She's not standing her ground? No Sera! You're supposed to be the captain! Save me from this bitch!

"Kyouko would it be fine for you if you take the lead?"

"A-Actually…"

"Kyouko, opportunities like this don't come very often. I really suggest you accept it." From behind Saki I could see a purple object that she's waving. Fuck I recognize that object! She showed it to me two days ago even though I didn't ask to see it. The thickness of that object just isn't meant to… ah what am I thinking?! At any case it seems that 'no' is now a no go unless I want to forcefully bleed for the first time..

"T-Thanks for the concern captain but Saki's right. This is my chance to train myself and I won't let it go!" I can cry just about now.

"Is everybody ready?!" Like a child about to ride the roller-coaster, Kanbara called to us. I think I had the same feelings shared with everyone else, like a child about to go to the dentist for the first time.

There is at least one thing I am looking forward to about allowing Kanbara to drive and that is… Saki's reaction! Since she joined she always displayed that 'poker smile' and perhaps its Kanbara's legendary driving skills that would break that for the first time. I can't wait to see the fear on her face the first time she experiences those rough turns… oh I feel so mischievous right now! I sat in the middle row of the van at the left door's side. Saki, as I predicted, is happily sitting beside me enjoying the cramp atmosphere. Senou is sitting at her right and at Senou's right is Nagi who was holding her katana tight.

At the back of the van is Kozue who has the unconscious Yae's head resting on her lap. I wonder if Yae will be able to stay asleep while Kanbara is driving… I'm sure as hell I won't.

"Buckle up please, safety first!" Sera warns us with a smile but I can see the dread in her eyes. I can remember the first time I saw this look and it was when she apologized to me for losing.

"Gosh it's really kind of cramped." Saki says, with a smile? Why is she smiling? As soon as I ask myself that I feel a strong grasp caress the left side of my waist.

Now what? She has her hand around my waist so what is she planning?

"Okay we're leaving. Make sure you have everything you need." After one last check it's finally go time. I wanted to check behind me if we had all our provisions but Saki's hand restricted me of that.

We took off the way all of us expected we would… like a rocket. I swear everyone gasped, almost falling forward. It was only me and Saki who didn't get tossed forward. Saki's arm around my waist supported me and I guess I should thank her for that… I would but I fear that she has more plans for that arm than just support me.

"Shall we begin?" She whispers really gently to my ear.

The first thing that came into my mind was 'begin what?' But now that I feel her lift the left side of my shirt I don't have to ask.

"Nnngyah!" An embarrassing moan escapes my mouth because of someone's pinch. I can feel everyone staring at me. Did Saki plan to do this all along?

"Are you okay Kyouko?" Sera turned around to ask and from the expression on her face it was obvious to me that I really sounded weird.

"I- I'm fine I guess it's just the usual." I know Sera understands what the 'usual' means. For those who don't know… I call it the 'Kanbara's Driving Sucks So Much That I Want to Hurl- Syndrome'.

"I heard blankets are good for car sickness." Saki suggests.

"Here I have one" Kozue tossed us an average-sized blanket. It had a plain color but Kozue doesn't seem to be the cutesy type so it's not surprising.

It's hot but I admit the blanket made it cozy, too bad Kanbara's driving or I'd be sleeping now. We aren't too far from the mansion and it felt like we already reached turbulence on land. Every time she turns I risk falling to my side and that's something I want to really avoid because like a Venus Fly Trap someone was eagerly spreading her arms waiting for that to happen.

"A-Are we there yet?" I know this is a stupid question but I feel trapped in between Ms. DrivingSucksALoT and the Sakiroth right here.

"Two more hours." Kanbara turned to me with a reply. That's a really depressing answer and a really lethal one too! Keep your attention on the road please! Just as she did that our van zigzagged in a horrible trashing everyone to the corners of the vehicle.

"Gotcha little kitty." Saki whispers to me as she catches me her arms.

"I don't need your help!"

My pride pushed her away but her insistence and somehow stronger arm strength pulled me back.

"S-Stop it I- nyahh!" I tried to cover my mouth but another embarrassing sound came off it.

Shit because of Kanbara I completely forgot where Saki's hand was. Inside the blanket I felt her left hand intrude my shorts. Now that I'm facing her I forgot how unguarded my rear is… t-this is bad. Should I try to crush her hand by leaning back on the seat? Yes I think I'm going to do just-…

"G-Ghh!" Why? As soon as I move my muscle to lean down she squeezes tightly with her hand and all my strength disappears.

"If you lean back you might get thrown around again. Just stay like this." She whispered while I feel hand easing up playfully.

"S-Saki please stop I-…"

"Once you catch a stray cat you shouldn't let it go because it might mess up your living room." She says.

I can feel her hand creep further down playfully having its way around my crack.

"They say the moon looks smooth but it's actually rough. From this feel I say they're wrong." She says, with a big smile on her face.

Please, trip, end now before I end. Did Kanbara really say two hours? Can I really take this much punishment for that long? Without realizing it I found myself resting my head on someone's welcoming chest. Then, as soon as I got used to her teasing I remembered something important a little too late. In history we learned that humans discovered that it's possible to reach the east and it's also possible to head north by going south. Using that same principle this means... crap I just felt her hand pass under my legs!

"N-No not here please." I whispered to her ear, raising my head only to have it pulled gently down again to her chest.

"Stop? There's no reason to stop. When a little cat looks like it wants to play there's no cruel master who won't play with it is there?" Again, she whispers to me like I'm some sort of child… or… yeah… a kitten. I just wish she'd stop doing that.

I can feel my knees shake under her caress but the more I close my legs to stop her the better it seems to feel. If that happens I'm not sure I can continue hiding this from my teammates.

"H-Hey Kyouko are you sure you're really okay? You sound weird." Sera turned to me again but I dared not answer or look at her face.

"It's okay I'm used to this when I went with Tsuruga before. I'll take care of her." Saki is apparently used to Kanbara's driving while I'm not… shit.

"Oh yeah I remember that! You got left out by your team accidentally and we found you!" Kanbara laughed as she turns to us again completely forgetting about the road.

"W-Watch out for that truck!" I heard Sera scream and the Van sway. Thanks to Saki I was safe and didn't fall off my seat but I'm more in trouble of Saki than getting in a car accident right now.

Her hands are getting more comfortable finding their mark. Without getting inside the silk she's slowly learning of my weak spots like modern laser-guided-missiles. I remember a term used for this… it's a bittersweet moment or something near that. I'm obviously being violated by this girl but my body can't respond properly, in other words, it feels so good. I find myself unable to win against her touch as I succumb on her chest with my hands tucked in against my own. Each touch brings me closer and closer to that bar I don't want to cross. I want to moan and yell but I shouldn't! The fact that I'm loving each touch feels more torture than pleasure as I bit my own lips to stop myself from exploding.

Everything suddenly becomes dark; Saki covered me entirely with the blanket from Kozue. Inside that blanket I felt something push against my lips it was her finger.

"I can't let you injure yourself. Nibble on this instead." Again she whispers to me with that commanding and condescending tone.

"W-Who do you think you are to slck to order me around slrp?" Oh no this is too much. What I'm saying is now the complete opposite of what I'm feeling and doing. Like that Ice-cream-popsicle-stick I can't stop sucking, licking and gently biting unto Saki's finger. At first I started out with her point finger but then I found myself slowly biting two of them and then three and long before I knew it I was licking her hand as if it's some incredibly delicious piece of meat.

"That's a good kitty. Purr for me will you?" She whispers. At that statement I felt a switch flip inside my head and everything turned to white noise.

"Nya~" I heard this come out of my mouth while everything was blurry.

"Good girl."

"Munyah~" I remember rubbing my cheeks against her lower arm when she rubbed my chin playfully with her finger like how a pet-owner would do with her puppy.

Can my teammates hear me? At this point I don't care anymore, as long as it feels good. I can feel her caress the surface of the thin silk that separated her hands from that forbidden place. I remember the few seconds when it felt painfully degrading but now each stroke she makes is just blissful delight. I ask myself how it would feel if she did it directly. Why must I wear this cursed cloth when I already had my shorts anyway? I'm now begging for her just to tear it off and have her way with me as she always promised.

"You're now gushing, you're asking for more, what a greedy kitty." Again she whispers. Is she disappointed at me?

"I'm sorry goshujinsama. Please punish this dirty cat." Oh my god I hope my teammates didn't just hear that. My voice is muffled by the blanket but even then I sound like I was speaking through a megaphone.

"Silly kitty we can't do that now, when we go back after the tournament I'll have your tail prepared for you so look forward to it okay?" Eh? What tail? I can't think anymore all I know is that for some reason I have to lick this hand clean like I was waiting for some kind of reward. Was I waiting for her to finally invade that last piece of barrier? Was I waiting for her to penetrate that precious thin wall of flesh that separates the innocent from the perverted?

"Thank you very much goshujinsama. I'm looking forward to it." I replied as I continued to lap on her hand as a good pet would.

"We're here!"

What?! We're here? That's two hours? That's no fair, just when I was finally getting my master's love too. I want her to feel me more! I want her to break me! Crush me inside her arms and make me crazy with her touch!

"Everyone come down now! We still need to enter our team in the competition." God someone please shut that noisy bitch up! Let me stay in my master's arms for a little more while.

"Everyone has gone down Kyouko. We need to go to." No don't pull your hands away. I haven't licked it enough yet! You haven't loved me enough yet!

"I want to stay here goshujinsama!"

"Nope, that's not possible. Now come."

"No, I want to… ouch!"

Oh… my head… what happened? It feels like I've been asleep for hours and now there's this searing pain on my forehead. Have I been dreaming? From how I feel it's like I was in heaven just a few moments ago.

"Where am I? Are we there yet?" I asked, obliviously looking around me.

"D'aww and I worked so hard to…." Saki sounds disappointed for some reason. Did something happen?

"What do you…?"

"We're here. Hurry up everyone's waiting for us. I'm sure I can redo the treatment later. Nothing to worry about." She sounds spirited and motivated now.

"Okay… what treatment? Saki wait!" I chased after her after.

In a few seconds we finally managed to reach our teammates. They were all blushing when they noticed that I was now with them.

"K-Kanbara can I ask you to take care of the procedures, I think I'm also a little car sick." Sera requests looking at Kanbara with a pink face. Kanbara nods casually and as soon as she saw the application

"Is there something wrong?" I asked the person nearest to me, Nagi.

"W-Well it's just that you were sleeping in the van and… you were moaning pretty seductively. Were you having a nightmare?" She asks this with an awkward and embarrassed face.

"Eh?! W-Well I was dreaming but I can't really remember about what." What can I say? All I remember is white noise. It was as if something broke inside me that my brain had to shut everything out as a failsafe.

"It's normal; ninety percent of the total world population will never remember their dreams or nightmares five seconds after they wake up." Saki interrupted.

"So are we going to talk about a game plan captain?" I turned to Sera and asked. It's only a small tournament. This is the time when we usually talk about stuff we need for the matches.

"W-Well we don't know who we are facing yet so that will be pointless." She says this rather reluctantly.

"Eh, but we can still-…!"

"I- I have to go to the bathroom! Free time for everyone." The captain says this with a flushed facial expression. Now I really wonder what happened back there…

"Okay then… I guess that's that. Saki do you want to-…!" Since Saki always makes it obvious about how much she wants to stick to me I thought about asking her to tour the hotel together but for some reason she once again displays her unparalleled skill of disappearing like batman in his prime. This is a new hotel I have never stepped into and I am eager to explore it. This Keio Plaza Hotel is quite popular here in Shinjuku, or so I heard.

"Free time! Marvelous! I'm going to help Kanbara-sempai with the check-in." Just like that Hanada disappears from the group as quickly as Sera did.

"I'm going to tuck Yae in our rooms." Kozue still has Yae on her back in a piggy back position and I feel a little sorry for her so I nodded in approval.

"W-Wait please let me help you! What kind of person in a samurai lineage doesn't help with these kinds of task?" For a minute there I thought Nagi sounded too eager to help Kozue with Yae. Hmm… they all left with flustered faces… now I am really curious about what happened.

Well I guess I'm going to tour this place by myself. The hotel is indeed grand. It's fitting to be a four star hotel. There are amazing swimming pools that have their own wave generators, the halls were littered with fountains, and an amazing food court that sells nothing but the finest delicacies known in the world. The people working in the hotel also look so dignified. They talk very politely and they are also very helpful. It was actually a little embarrassing when one of them asked me if I was lost and I told him that I was only touring the place for I will be staying here for a few days.

Now I find myself walking this rather peculiar hall. One of the staff told me that this was supposed to be some sort of 'rest room' not the kind where you pee and stuff but where you actually rest. It's different from your normal hotel rooms because this is where you only rest for a while, like when you're in a hurry and you don't have time to go back to your room when you're finished resting. They said this is usually used for events and this will also probably be the rooms our teams will be using for this one tournament.

Let's see, how does one of these rooms really look like inside? Peeping a bit won't hurt besides it's free to use for customers. Hwoah everything looks absolutely amazing. The room is colored green and I suppose it's to help people who rest here relax their eyes. There is a small chandelier hanging over two leather couches and everything is on a fine red and clean carpet. The green walls, though made in concrete doesn't look too rough, actually it really looks smooth. The room has proper conditioning thanks to the AC that hangs overhead above the bed. The bed itself wasn't too big, that's a given since this is only a rest room not an actual live-in room. It has a bathroom and television and some desks in multiple corners.

"So this how our team's locker would look like." Now I'm more pumped up for the tournament. I mean, what's not to like? Clean floors, clean carpets, perfect lighting, desks for working, television for watching enemies' match videos, a large bed, a cute girl sleeping on the large bed, a- a cute girl sleeping on a large bed?!

Oh no I entered an occupied room! C-Calm down it's her fault that she didn't lock the door! Oh well I'll just tiptoe out before she wakes up and realize that-…!

"Nngh…"

"I-I'm sorry I entered without knocking!" I bowed and apologized without actually checking. I felt I would get arrested if I didn't. To my surprise nobody answered my apology. I looked up to see that the girl was still asleep groaning as if she is having a nightmare.

I suppose I need to at least check if she's fine. I mean, if she suddenly turns up dead tomorrow and someone saw me go in here I'll probably be cuffed faster than I can say tsumo. Now that I look at this girl closer she looks rather familiar. I know I've seen that face somewhere before but the pink hair is completely different. Frankly she looks like Saki but she's not Saki so she'd be… Oh my god this is Miyanaga Teru! Why is she here? Is that monster team competing in this tournament?!

"Nngh, gyyhh, ggnggh…" She starts moaning again, rolling back and forth on the bed. It's easy to tell now that this girl is having a nightmare. Her face is completely drenched in sweat even though it's so cold in here thanks to the AC.

Should I wake her up? I know it's superstitious but I heard that some people can actually die from having incredibly bad nightmares. Death in mind is death in body is what they say after all. But then again, this is Miyanaga Teru, maybe if I let her go through this nightmare we won't have to… No Kyouko! Don't even think of going through that line!

"Hey, Miyanaga-san are you alright? Wake up." I reach out for her shoulder. My plan was to shake her awake.

As soon as my hand touched her skin everything went black and I fell into vertigo. Oh god what's happening now? I remember this feeling, a combination of fear, excite, anxiety, doubt and hesitation; this is the feeling I get whenever I dream of Saki before.

"Oneechan look I made this for you!" I hear a little girl call out but who? She was wearing floral designed shirt, has pigtails and a miniskirt. We were on something that looked like a small hill filled with flowers, I suppose this is somewhere in Nagano.

"Saki! Is that a ring?" A new girl appears! She looks like someone in middle-school. Did this girl just call that little girl Saki? Hwoah! That cute and innocent little girl is Saki?! So if Saki called this other one 'oneechan' then that would mean that this girl is.

"This is for you Teru-neechan!" I saw little Saki eagerly give her sister the ring she made from flower petals.

"This is so cute! I will cherish this forever!"

Aww that's so cute. It's so heartwarming to see Teru play with Saki like this. This is such a far-cry from how they are now….

"But I want to make something for Saki too! Hmm… let's see."

Teru gestured for Saki to sit on her lap and little Saki was eager to comply. After that, Teru gathered a handful of flower petals and started braiding them on top of Saki's head.

"I shall make our little princess a fitting crown!" Teru says this really cheerfully. What an ideal big-sister, I'm getting jealous!

"But that will take long oneechan. I don't want to trouble you." How considerate! Why isn't my teammate version of Saki like this?!

"Non-sense. Flowers suit you extremely well."

"I know, it's my name right?"

"Not only that. You're as cute as one too."

"Geez nee-chan you're embarrassing me." D'aww little Saki blushed.

"Remember that flower I told you about Saki?"

"Rinshan Kaihou?"

"Yes, it's an incredibly beautiful flower that blooms on the top of the tallest mountains. Do well to become that flower and grow up strong and beautiful Saki." She says this as she gives her little sister a warm embrace. This scene just makes my heart melt. I wish I can look at them like this all day long and… now what.

Just when everything's going awesome I'm now feeling a large tremor underneath us. The two girls I was watching fell off-balance and got separated from each other. They were shouting and groaning as ground shook and a peculiar crack started to appear in between them. This never happened before even in my weirdest dreams!

"Saki!" Teru shouts and tries to run for her sister. Before she could reach the little girl I saw her fall down on her back thanks to another huge tremor. The small crack in between them widens and turns to a gaping fissure that encompassed miles that they couldn't walk around of.

"Teru, it's time to go." I hear another voice. Whose is it this time?

Behind Teru I see a silhouette of another girl. She has a striking resemblance to both Teru and Saki. She placed her hands on the back of Teru's shoulder urging her to come.

"W-Wait Saki is still… Saki, come here, jump, oneechan will catch you." Teru moved closer to the fissure with her arms stretched. Gosh that fissure isn't as big as the Grand Canyon but that's still scary….

"Oneechan…." I can see puddle of tears form inside little Saki's eyes. Of course she's scared! I would be too if I was that little and I had to jump that gaping hole!

"Saki…." This time, it wasn't Teru's voice I hear but that of a man. I turn to check and see that just behind Saki the silhouette of a man was beginning to take shape.

"Otosan…." Saki turns to the man and it's revealed to me that the man is actually the father of both the girls. Oh so now the whole family is here!

"No, Saki! Don't go with that man, jump here I'll catch you!" Teru urges the little girl. This is the first time I see sincere tears flow out of this girl's eyes and even if I know that this is only a dream it's still touching.

"But otosan…" Little Saki looks hesitant. Is she torn choosing between her sister and mother or her father? This is a difficult thing to happen for such a little girl.

"Saki! No! Saki! Oneechan needs you! Come with us!" Teru begs and even kneels as she stretches her arm, desperately urging Saki to come over.

"Sorry oneechan…" With tears in her eyes, I saw little Saki disappear with her dad in a void leaving Teru and her mother. The last thing I heard was Teru shouting her sister's name over and over again until the blue skies turned black and everything was gone.

Is it over? Is this dream over? As soon as I asked that a new scenery envelops the entire background. This time it was of an urban place. I recognize this; it's Tokyo, residential districts. I recognize two figures it was the older woman who I learned that was Saki and Teru's mom and a girl who looks like she's in high-school. No, I shouldn't say that, the face of this girl is incredibly familiar to me, it's Saki without her clips. She still sported her short hair look! This is nostalgic….

Why does she look so sad? Did something happen? Maybe I'll find out soon enough since the door is opening. Ah that's….

"What is that girl doing here?" I cannot believe that these harsh words were uttered by the same person who was lovingly hugging her sister a moment ago. Teru who just came from the opposite side of that door now looks like how she always looked back in high-school. Her eyes, they do not gleam, and she has that cold expression on her face.

"O-Oneechan…" Saki can barely look her sister in the eyes.

"I believe your name is Saki? Am I correct? Congratulations on taking the individual championships and the team championships. If you came here to gloat then let me tell you that I do not care." Teru! Why would say that? That's just cruel! I can feel my heart break looking at the older sister punish her little sister with these words.

"Oneechan I-…." Saki tries to reach out for her sister and hug her but….

"I don't have a little sister! You're mistaking me for someone…." I gasped as I tried to catch the falling Saki who was pushed away by her sister just now. She phased through my hands and arms, I guess I'm a stranger and outsider to this world who cannot touch anything, an observer if you will.

"Teru! What are you saying?"

"Why are you asking me to welcome a stranger into our house mom?" Why are you doing this Teru? That's your little sister and you know it! Did you not wish for this? To live with her? Why are you… I just don't understand!

"Teru don't-….!"

"No, mom, she's right… I- I'm sorry for intruding in your life Teru-san. You will never have to see me in front of you again. Goodbye, please take care and have a good life!" Saki… why are you still smiling when tears are running down your cheek. Please let this end, this is too much to bear. I can't watch this anymore!

Saki stormed out of the gate and quickly disappeared from the scene. I want to chase her but….

"Teru! Why have you-…!"

"Mom she chose that man over us she can just live with that failure of a father for the rest of her life. She doesn't need us and I'm hell sure that we don't need her!" You're not sincerely saying that are you, Teru?

"Your father is dead Teru! Since last month your sister has been living alone! Do you understand?! You just banished your sister who has nowhere else to go!"

Teru's mouth dropped wide open. Her eyes opened wide, in shock and her body froze deadly still. I can see her hands shaking… did she really just find out about this? She slowly walks back inside with a dazed look on her face. I followed her to her room where she sat in front of the mirror looking extremely exhausted. She rested her head against her hands as she slumped on the desk like a cram student in project week. She opened the drawer of that desk and her hands froze once again when she saw something peculiar in it.

"T-This is…"

I saw her take out a flower ring from the desk. I recognize that ring… that's the ring little Saki gave her….

"Oneechan! Thank you for teaching me mahjong!"

"I made you this oneechan!"

"Oneechan what's Rinshan Kaihou?"

"Oneechan you're my most important person! I love you oneechan!"

I hear voices out of nowhere and I suppose Teru can hear these too. I can now see her face distort into frowns and tears. It's only a matter of time….

"Saki… Saki!" A switch was flicked and the cold uncaring façade of this stubborn girl was destroyed by that ring. She passed through me as she dashed out of that door and down the stairs, almost falling down in the process.

I ran too to catch up with her and because I was rather athletic I managed to get to her. We passed by her mother who looked troubled by the gate and crashed through the gate.

"Saki I'm sorry! Where are you!? Saki!" Teru's cries are heard by everybody. Some people are looking out through their windows and opening their gates as Teru noisily shouted, running on the streets.

As if the skies mourned for this sad day, droplets of rain covered the scenery. But Teru didn't mind that, she just continued to shout her sister's name looking in every corner for that girl she just exiled. It's no use…. Saki was running when she came out of the house, in that time before you realized your mistake she could've…. Oh Teru what have you done? If you only realized your true feelings sooner….

In one corner of the street, the only thing she found, broke her heart more. There, wet in a puddle of rain, was a crown of flowers she clearly recognized. Her knees looked like they lost their strength as I saw her drop on the floor, slowly reaching for the thrown up floral crown.

"Saki… I'm so sorry… please come back!" She shouted to the heavens but even then, the little sister who was now probably miles away, could not hear her.

"Saki!" I hear Teru's voice again but this time she was beside me, on a bed, looking extremely frantic.

"Ah, y-you're awake!" I quickly recognized that the dream was over and that this was now the real world.

"Ugh and you're?" Teru wipes the droplets of tears around her eyes as she turns to me.

"I'm Kyouko Suehara I'm…"

"At that girl back in my last year in the high-school nationals." Oh good she remembers me.

"I'm sorry I didn't notice this room was occupied and the room wasn't locked so…"

"It's fine. I'm sorry too. It became a bad habit for me to leave the door unlocked like that." I thought she was going to get angry but this is a surprise. She's certainly not the heartless Teru I faced once before anymore.

"It's because of Saki isn't it?" Oh no what am I saying in front of this girl?!

"What?" Yes it seems she doesn't understand me. Just let it slide like that Kyouko before you dig yourself deeper.

"You keep your door unlocked like that hoping that when you wake up Saki will be beside you. Am I wrong?" No! I said it! I really said!

"…"

Eh? Why is she being silent?

"That's true…. I know I don't have the right anymore to be her sister. But deep within, I guess I am still stubbornly hoping that the day comes when I can reverse everything I've done."

So she's a good sister after all. I'm glad!

"But… how did you know I was dreaming of Saki?" Oh shit!

"I didn't know really I was just eek!" What am I going to do? She has me up by collar and has the same eyes that terrify me with Saki.

"Now Suehara-san, if you're not going to tell me how you found out in ten seconds I will have you feel all the pain in this world in one swift go!"

"B-But I'm telling the truth!"

Ten seconds later…

"T-That's just completely over the top! I see now that the Miyanaga lineage is full of sadists." I now find myself sitting on a 'Seiza' position after confessing everything to Teru. I'm glad this girl isn't on our team, because a tag-team of she and Saki would kill me in a day.

"T-that's… that's incredible. The ability to invade other people's dreams in a touch… that should be illegal!" She accuses me.

"N-No please don't say it like I meant to do it. I never displayed this ability before. Somehow it happened when I tried to wake you up! I didn't plan on this nor did I mean to!" I try to explain. Hopefully this Miyanaga is more reasonable than the other one.

"If you just experienced doing this today, this ability must've been awakened by being close to someone who's a powerful psychic or someone near the sort. Is there someone that good in your team?" Crap, she asks me now of a delicate team secret and Saki told me never to tell anyone too!

"N-No one in particular." Gulp…

"Suehara-san…"

"Yes?"

"In ten seconds if…"

Ten seconds later…

"P-Please forget about this conversation Miyanaga-san! Saki will kill me or worse" From Seiza I'm now in Dogeza… it just keeps getting worse.

"So… she joined your team, I expected she'd be with that Haramura girl." She says this while drinking a cup of tea she conjured out of somewhere. I was too busy throwing myself on the ground to see where she got that tea from.

"You're not alone in thinking that." It was relief for me just to be out of that position.

"But I'm glad she's finally away from that tramp. That girl is dangerous! I can see the lust in her eyes every time she gazed on my sister."…Okay why is her fist shaking and why does it seem like she has an unreasonable contempt for Nodoka Haramura? Being an over-protective big sister maybe? But why do I feel that it's something deeper than that?

"This tournament would be her big debut back in the mahjong world. Too bad you guys are in it too." I can't help but scratch my head in this situation.

"Oh our team won't join." She says, drinking right after.

"Come again?"

"I was invited to help with the commentary. Extra income is always good right?" This is good news! Even though it's improbable that there won't be any strong teams in this tournament, at least we don't have to worry about the deadliest of them all! That definitely relieves some of the pressure!

"It's good that your err… boss allowed you to." I remember that little conversation she had with Saki not too long ago.

"Oh that bastard won't let an opportunity to advertise pass by. Of course he allowed me to." Teru looks mad every time she utters something about her team's owner.

"This man, he isn't as bad as many people make him sound is he?" I cringe thinking about this guy. What kind of ass is he that many people hate him so much?

"You're right…"

"Oh that's great…"

"He's much worse."

"Uwah?!" Certainly not the answer I was hoping for.

"He does everything in his power to get what he wants. Once there was a promising mahjong player who did not want to join his team because she could not leave the shop her family owned for generations. He made sure that shop closed prematurely with force…." Teru says this with a normal expression but there's grim in the tone of her voice.

"T-That bad? Has he umm…"

"Touched me or any of his players?" On the point, this one. I even couldn't bring myself to complete my sentence but she seems quite open and frank about it.

"Y-Yeah…"

"You have a dirty mind Suehara now I'm not sure if it's alright to leave my sister in your care."

"No! I'm not letting you tell me that in that disappointed tone! It's my neck that's on the line here not hers!" I felt that I had the right to complain…. Saki's not the one on guard every night from me!

"To answer your question I'll say that man is indeed a cruel human being but he's also incredibly superstitious." She takes a zip of her tea.

"Superstitious?" How has that got anything to do with my question I wonder.

"He believes that his players' abilities come from divine goddesses and that they must stay pure to have them preserved. Every single one of us is still untouched."

"Oh I see."

"Does that disappoint you?"

"Of course not!" Okay I'm beginning to think that this girl has something against me.

"Why did you have to ask then?" A good question. If I was to answer that, it's because…

"It's because if Saki finds out herself I'm not sure how she will react. Good thing to know there's nothing to worry about." This is my sincere reply. From what I saw in her dream, if that's really what happened in that house, then I believe that Saki hasn't completely thrown away her bonds with Teru. After all, the last things she said before going away was 'Please take care and have a good life' and that's not something someone who's filled with hatred would say.

"I… I don't think she'd care if that was to happen."

"I think she'd break if that was to happen." I immediately fixed her misguided words. I don't want Teru to feel helpless about her situation with Saki because for some reason I just can't let it go that two sisters who used to love each other are now so broken apart like this. Besides, it might get Saki off my back.

"What makes you think that?" Teru slightly changes her tone to a lighter and more hopeful tone, that's good.

"I just know. Please let me help you patch things with her!" I don't want to have to explain my feelings to her so let's just leave it as that.

"U-Um!" She nods to me with traces of pink around her cheeks. This girl has a cute side after all; I shouldn't let Saki hear me say that.

"Ah! I've been gone too long I think I need to go back to my team!"

It seems the time I spent snooping around in Teru's dream was longer than I thought. An hour has already passed since I came into this room and yet it felt as if that dream lasted only for twenty minutes.

I try to dash out of the room but a powerful tug almost swept me off my feet. Ow, ow, ouchies only one person pulls me that hard and this person who just did that is related so I guess it's not surprising.

"W-What's the matter?" I turn to her, still breathing a little heavily from my surprise.

"I-I have to go to…"

'And?"

"I don't know the way back…"

"Eh?" Okay I admit that for a split second there I saw an older version of Little Saki there. The way she flusters when she's embarrassed is just so adorable! I wonder if Saki was the same before she turned… dark.

There's no choice but to let the ultimate team's ace tag along with me. My main concern is Saki's reaction if she sees us together. Would she be mad? Would she ignore me? Would see greet her sister? I wanted to take the scenic route but I know I'm running late so there's no choice but to go straight there. This hotel is so big that it actually took us twenty minutes to get back to the front desk and from there go to the event place.

The event area is quite huge. They cleared out quite a huge patch of the hotel and it will serve as some sort of stage? Or maybe just the platform for the games? I'm not sure how this will work out.

"We who have gathered together here are brought together by our passion for the game!" I heard this part of the speech by some woman who looks like she's in her thirties.

"Do you see your teammates?" Teru asks me, walking in front of me for the first time after twenty minutes staying behind me.

"Not yet but I… oh wait there they are!" From a far I can see the figure of my teammate Saki standing beside Senou in the middle of the crowd who were all standing to hear the opening speech of this tournament's holder. Great it doesn't seem like she noticed me with Teru yet! If I part with Teru here I'll come out unscathed-….

"Oh look there's our guest of honor and half of our tournament's official commentators! Miyanaga Teru!"

"Ah that's me…"

"Okay I'll leave you here and w-what are you-… why are you dragging me with you!?" Suddenly I feel myself get closer and closer to the stage because of some idiot dragging me by the back of my collar.

"Miyanaga Teru! Welcome to this tournament and… who's that?" The spokesperson looks confused when she noticed me behind Teru… who won't look that way after seeing this?

"A-Ah! This is my friend, for some reason I just dragged her up here out of instinct." Teru replies, scratching her head innocently. Quite honest this girl….

"Oh I understand that feeling. It's your first time to commentate right?" I understand its part of the program but… can you let me go first?!

"Yes, sorry, to be honest I'm a little nervous." She says this. If you're nervous how about me?

"Ouhh I recognize this girl, this is Kyouko Suehara! She's the former Himematsu general from three years ago!"

Oh great, she knows me…. Everybody in the crowd were smiling awkwardly at me. These people are 'newer' mahjong players so I do not really recognize any of them in the front.

"We were really saddened when we thought you left the mahjong world for good Suehara-san! Two years? It has been too long! Your debut in the last tournament even for just one match was spectacular!" I heard tons of laughter after she said this. Everyone was gawking at me, sneering, smirking and whatever synonym of laughing you can think of. I hate you Teru! Now I really want to cry.

"Thanks…" I reply weakly but this is mostly sarcasm at this point. Then, when I thought everything can't get worse, I remembered the most important person in the crowd. I spanned to look for Saki and indeed I saw her. The leaf like extension was covering parts of her eyes but I could see a glimpse of her right eye. Oh no, that look, that's the stare of death she's giving me and I can see it glow in azure flame… she's mad.

"You're all sweaty Suehara-san! Are you nervous to be in this tournament?" She asks. No I am not nervous of this tournament, I am nervous about what will happen to me after this tournament or if my luck is really bad, tonight!

"N-not at all, I'm quite excited to be a part of this competition. It's just that we had to run a bit to get here." Half-truth and half-lie, yes I did jog a bit with Teru going here, no I am not excited to play because now someone might just punish me because of this imbecile!

"Of course! I apologize that the location is located so far deep in the hotel. But we made sure that every minute of playing here will be as comfortable as possible." She says, and I don't care, just save me from that avatar of vengeance whose eyes are burning with blue flames of deliverance.

"Thank you again."

"I won't hold everyone here for much longer! We have assigned locker-rooms for each team that joined this competition! Here Suehara-san I'm supposed to give this to the captains but I'll give this to you. The room with that number is your locker room!" She gives me a rectangular piece of plastic with a number engraved on it.

Hmm… let's see, I'm not someone who's usually superstitious but I hope it's a good number that might actually change my luck. Oh… great… a big fat number thirteen engraved in crimson red letters. You know for a small tournament I am surprised that they're able to hold it in this grand manner. Sure the venue isn't a coliseum unlike most National Tournaments but still.

Not long after the plastic cut-outs were given out to the captains the crowd began to disperse as the holders of the tournament prepare the venue for the actual battles. It took me five seconds more before moving my feet because I couldn't make my mind up between just running away or going back to my teammates where someone is waiting for me eagerly.

"Kyouko!" Shouts a familiar voice, sealing my escape route.

"Captain please don't be so loud I've had enough of the spotlight for just one day." I requested while looking exhaustedly at her.

"You never told us you were friends with Miyanaga Teru." Sera asks

"I'm not-…!"

"Thank you for everything today friend."

"Ah! T-Teru!"

"I'll count on you, you know, about that." She says this with a cute shade of pink on her face before turning away then dashing off.

"…"

"So…"

"P-Please be quiet for a moment and let me breath." I raise my hand and wave it in a no gesture at Sera.

"Let me guess. That girl got lost somewhere in this hotel and you merely bumped into her. Then like a lost lamb that needs a shepherd she attached herself to you since you're the only familiar face and you had to bring her here. Wahaha, am I correct?" What a clever deduction!

"Yes! That's absolutely right! Thank you Kanbara! Thank you so much!" I nod my head while bowing ever so gratefully. She's didn't hit the nail right on the spot but she was three-fourths correct without the dream thing.

"Hoeh? How did you know, Kanbara?" Sera asks.

"Well, getting lost is the main specialty of the Miyana- ah my foot!" Kanbara squeals in pain with a surprised look on her face. Beside her was a flustered younger Miyanaga. Incredible, so her embarrassed look is on par, no, even cuter than that of Teru. Without that sadistic smile, when it's replaced with that innocent blushing face, she's really a sight to behold. Oh no I think I'm blushing too, calm down, calm down.

After that little conversation we decided to check our 'locker rooms'. I was right; it was one of those rooms I've seen before I got here. Not like the one Teru was sleeping in though, the bed is round here instead of rectangular and the chandelier was much bigger. Overall design is quite similar though.

"Hey!" Someone calls out to me, tapping me from the back of my shoulder.

"Ye- S-Saki?! W-What is it?" What was I thinking? Of course she'd want to talk to me.

"Y-You really aren't friends with that woman are you?" Incredibly flustered face, stuttering, puppy eyes… damn it Saki is this one of your sadistic plots or did something happen while I was stuck in that dream world?

"No, it was our first time talking, we're mere acquaintances." I reply. I seriously want to pat her head right now while she's in her 'Little Saki Mode' before she turns back to 'Dark Sadistic Saki' but I'm a little skeptical. Is this what they call synchronity? When the older sister starts acting cute the little sister is affected as well?

"Okay…" She replies meekly. Oh god Saki! Why can't you be like this forever? If that happens I won't have troubles letting you stay beside me at night!

"Hey Saki! Why don't you try talking to Teru for once, as sisters?" I gently tap her shoulder before she can walk away.

"No!" She turns to me with a cold and sharp stare. T-That's Dark Saki right there. I guess from now on I'll call her 'Yami' when she's in that state. I wish she could've stayed in that other cute mode longer but alas….

Saki walks outside leaving me feeling awkward with the others who were still eagerly checking every corner of the locker room. I suppose if the trigger that made her react cutely was something about Teru it's only logical to say that something about Teru can unfortunately reverse the process. Either way that was such a powerful rejection she did, now I'm beginning to think if it's really possible to bring the two sisters back together again.

"Wahaha it's not going to be that easy." Kanbara speaks to me softly from behind me.

"Kanbara? You know something about them?" Because Kanbara was from the same prefecture maybe she heard rumors about the two or better yet, spoke to Saki or one of her previous teammates about it.

"Not much. All I know is that one day Saki returned from a month's worth of leave from her school and she was uhm… different." She says this, vaguely.

"Different?" I ask for more information than just a single word. Different how exactly?

"She didn't talk to anyone and she didn't come to her mahjong club's room for an entire week. I heard Nodoka tried to talk to her but Saki was always nowhere to be found outside of class. Then, when she did start to come to the club she would only minimally speak to them. Mako told me before that there were times when Saki would only utter one word for the entire day while there were days when she would not speak at all. Even when her teammates were playing she would not mind reading a book and sit in a corner. It was as if she lost something." Kanbara explains, this time very vividly.

"She did not practice at all? Then that must've…"

"Wahaha, one would think so right? Her mahjong skills must've dropped!? But… contrary to that, her skills seemed to multiply a thousand times more than how she was when she first beat Shiraitodai in the championships." Kanbara's face looks calm but her words hold incredible meaning! How can someone not practice at all and yet still improve?

"Did she train somewhere in secret?" I wondered. If people did not see her for a whole month maybe she went somewhere to improve her skills in that duration.

"I don't know, but let me share with something that our friend Amae Koromo told everybody."

"Ah! That child!" I remember that blonde little girl that fetched Awaii in that last tournament.

"Wahaha she's not a child she's actually probably just as old as us." Kanbara corrects me. Really? I really cannot imagine that someone with such kiddy charms be a 'teenager' or much less an 'adult'.

"I'll try to remember that." No I won't….

"Anyway, on their second year of clashing in the nationals, she's the person who really felt the wrath of the new Saki. Koromo is a special girl. She says her abilities stem from the blessings given to her by the moon. She broke the wills and hearts of many players with her flow control ability and her famous 'haitei'." I recognize the term 'haitei' is the short version of Haitei Raoyue. It's a yaku like Rinshan Kaihou which adds another fan to someone who wins with the last tile to be drawn.

"So what happened?" I am extremely excited to hear about this. Since I lost myself after graduating high-school I deprived myself from watching high level mahjong matches because I was afraid I'll see myself on the seats of the losing teams.

"Koromo… did not manage to get one single Haitei and to make matters worse nobody in that game scored a single had."

"A- A perfect game?!" It was quite surprising to hear this. In National Competitions it's quite rare to see 'perfect games' because of multiple factors: the amazing quality of the opponents, the pressure of playing in it, and the strict rules that will not allow the possibility to cheat

"In that match Koromo was dead serious about winning. She was so serious that the power was snuffed out from the grid and the clouds that day were blown away. The moon shined brightly in its full glory and she says that on this state it's virtually impossible for her to lose."

"T-That's scary…" I take a gulp of my own saliva while imagining this monster so powerful that she's able to control the winds to blow the clouds away and crash the town's electricity. Yet… why do I feel that she's not the real monster in this story?

"When the lights came back up Koromo had a triumphant smile, so sure of her victory and everybody else had fear imprinted on their faces but one. I remember she said something after that, something like 'let's really play now Saki!'" Kanbara has a curious look on her face as if she was trying to really relay her experience of that even to me and I really appreciate it.

"Someone who's brave enough to challenge the champion like that. Incredible!" I have to say that I know really few people who have the guts to even stand in front of Teru when she was still the champion but I know even less who can stand in front of Saki after that onslaught that continued on for three years.

"You think? I personally thought it was a mistake." Kanbara shows me a disappointed look on her face as she reminisces about that day.

"Eh?"

"Right after she said that, the whole place started to tremor as if an earthquake of magnitude nine just hit the land. It was so strong that we thought the event would be cancelled but there was something odd. Everything was shaking so badly but the tiles on the mahjong table and the players around it were sitting perfectly fine. Two of the players were in distraught and they even tried going under the table to protect themselves but there were two who just sat there. In the north position was Koromo whose eyes were bloodshot as she looked at the girl directly beside her. That girl in front of her of course was Saki." Kanbara continues.

"Did the earthquake stop?"

"Yes it did and it was very strange. It stopped as soon as Saki drew a tile. Then, after that she said something, three words that hold no meaning but sent chill down everybody's spine: 'shall we begin?'".

"Are you telling me that Saki purposely conjured an earthquake that time?" This story is beginning to go overblown. Can I really believe that there's someone who exists in this world who can freely summon earthquakes with her own freewill?

"I wouldn't say that. I think it was a mere 'manifestation' of whatever she was feeling inside that time. Whatever the case Koromo lost that battle and when her friends asked what happened she said 'the moon could never hold authority over someone like her'". Kanbara finally finishes her story.

"Wow… I never knew…" Even though it's quite scary to hear of someone able to do that somehow I feel… sad. How great was the loneliness she must've felt after that event I experienced inside Teru's dream? I'm not sure how great it was but it was strong enough to shake the foundations of reality itself it seems.

"But for some reason, Saki started speaking to people again. She did not change back to how she was during her first year but she's as you see now."

"What could've caused it?" Was there someone who managed to speak to her and heal her heart a bit at that time?

"Wahaha, who knows? Nodoka showed me something though. Here I have a picture of it in my mobile phone." She does?

Kanbara shows me her mobile phone, doesn't look too expensive but it is still state of the art touchscreen so and so but anyway. The picture on the phone was that of an article of a tournament held in Tokyo. Ah I remember this. I didn't play in this tournament but Konue invited me to watch hoping to rekindle my love for mahjong that time. I can see a big picture of the stage and the audience. Yep it looked exactly like a year ago. But what's in here that could've possibly pulled Saki out of her shell?

"I- I don't get it…" I honestly say.

"I didn't get it either but when Saki asked to join their team it became clear to me." For the first time ever I see Kanbara grin mischievously like a hunter stalking its prey.

"Hmm?" She says that but I still don't get it.

"Look at the audience's seats. Third row." She requests.

I span my attention to that part of the picture and saw a peculiar image of a girl who looked bored wearing cat ears beside a blue haired inconsiderate girl w-wait… this is me!

"Eh?! I didn't know I had my picture taken!" It's definitely shocking. If I knew I would get caught in that big picture I wouldn't have allowed Konue to put those cat ears on me. Now that I see myself there it's quite embarrassing.

"Wahaha, that girl there is probably whom Saki saw when she looked at this picture. Kyouko without even being beside her you managed to pull her out of the darkness by this much." Please don't say that so calmly Kanbara….

"That's impossible! I have never met Saki other than that time in the nationals!" I waved my head stubbornly.

"There's no doubt. The moment she heard you will be joining this team she made up her mind to join too." I-It can just be a coincidence right?

"I don't get it I- I'm not even into that thing!" By 'that thing' I meant… w-well its obvious right?

"Really?"

With a flick of her finger she switches slides to another picture.

"What do you think?"

The picture was that of a schoolgirl wearing a frilly blue dominant maid costume. I feel my heart race a bit. The girl on this photo has such an innocent smile as she clumsily holds that tray filled with bowls of ramen. The way she naively tries to balance herself reveals her adroit hips and that sweet skin on those cunning legs! Those unblemished shoulders and awawawa ugh I was almost dragged to that side! This picture is dangerous!

"Saki's cute in a café's maid costume huh?" Great, now she asks me this.

"…" This is unfair how can I say no to that? I turned away from her after giving her phone back.

"Hey guys what are you talking about? Our games are about to start!" Sera came from behind us and placed her arms around our shoulders.

"Wahaha nothing of grave importance. Are we ready?" Kanbara replies. I'm thankful that she did not reveal to Sera anything about her conversation.

"I'm just marvelous! I'm ready to take them on in the first match!" Hanada looks pretty thrilled. For someone whose main ability is 'not to go bankrupt' she's pretty sure of herself. Then again it's an awesome quality so I'm not complaining.

"Okay then Hanada we're counting on you Hanada Kirame-sempai!" Senoo cheers for her new senior.

"Where's Saki?" Nagi asks while spanning her surroundings for that girl.

"I'm here, sorry I had to take a breather." Replies the girl in question. She looks happy and normal but I had no doubt that the cute 'Little Saki' mode she showed minutes ago is already asleep.

"…"

"What's wrong Kyouko?"

"N-Nothing…" I turn away, avoiding eye contact with her. Darn, that story Kanbara told me is beginning to get to me. Did she really join this team just because of me? Did I really save Saki from that darkness that enveloped her heart two years ago without knowing it? If those are all true then she's… and I… awawawa!

Now that I look at her, even if it's true that she's somehow returned a bit to her normal self, she's still a far cry from how she was as Little Saki. Thinking that, it makes me want to help Teru more! I want to drop a life line to the little girl who is still hips deep in the darkness that Teru unknowingly threw her into.

"Saki!" Out of sheer reflex I walk to Saki, take her hand then lead her outside.

"What's wrong Kyouko? Finally realized your rightful place as my cute pet?"

"Yes, I mean no! Gah! Stop it!" Damn this idiot! I led her to the nearest corner away from the vision of the people inside the room unless they purposely follow us.

"What is it then?" She asks, tilting her head curiously.

"I challenge you to a deal. What do you say?" Just now I have made up my resolve to help the two sisters patch things up and I have a plan that might just work.

"A deal? What are the stakes?" Quick to the point, this one.

"If you win, you may remove that dakimakura between us at night. I'll be your personal dakimakura if that's what you really want." T-This is a big risk I'm taking, it really is.

"… You make a good bargain Kyouko." Don't look away while covering your nose like you have a nosebleed! It's ruining my picture of Little Saki damn it!

"And if I win in this deal… you have to start addressing Teru as your sister again!" I say this out boldly.

"… Why are you… that girl has nothing to do with…"

"I'll even let you dress me up however you want me to. Cat ears, Miku dress, whatever you want but only at night."

"… How do I win this deal?" I really got her attention didn't I?

"If I manage to win by yakuman in one of this next match, then I win."

"And if you don't, I'll make sure you keep to your promise Kyouko." S-She just had a really nasty grin just now. I think I asked more than what I was bargaining for!

A yakuman is not enough, but it's the biggest thing that will properly symbolize my resolve to draw Little Saki out. Exiled and alone for all those years, she must still be hurting deep inside. I don't know but I just feel like I have to help her out! I can't understand these feelings myself but I feel that I'll also be helping myself this way. It feels like somehow, my fate is connected to these two sisters especially to this girl. This tournament is her debut but I feel like it's also my debut, my debut into these sisters' lives and that's something I can say I'll be proud of. To my enemies in this first round, sorry but, I'll have to take you all in one clean sweep.

"Just one clarification Kyouko."

"Hmm?" What are you doing interrupting me in my one chance of a cool internal monologue?!

"The deal is that you have to win by yakuman. Meaning the instant you score a yakuman must also be the instant where the game ends." She says this with a cheerful and innocent looking smile.

"…"

"I'll go call my personal dealer who sells the best cat ears and costumes in the country. Tralala…" Oh crap….

* * *

Next Chapter Preview:

"Y-You why are you here?"

"I go to wherever the south wind brings me."

"But if someone of your caliber is to be my opponent… whatever am I going to do with that deal?!"

"Ahaha, Kyouko this guy on the phone is telling me I can get an extra cute tail for half the price!"

"I hate you monsters!"


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